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Monday, October 10, 2016

Artprize!

Those of you who have been with me for a while will remember previous posts on Artprize.  It's an Art event that has been taking place in Grand Rapids Michigan for 8 years.  It's free to see and the public gets to vote for their favorite piece.  This year there were 1,453 artists in 170 venues in the city.  The prizes were for a total of $500,000 which is split up between the public vote and a juried vote.  It lasts for about 3 weeks, after 2 weeks the top 20 pieces are announced, and a winner is announced 2 days before it ends.
I have gone to this event almost every year. It's fun to walk around the city and see all the art.  I went with some good friends this year; we spent about 5 hours walking around.  We saw way more than I can show you, but there was still a lot we didn't see.

 Here we are - just getting started!



 This was painted on metal, and parts of the bear had metal exposed.  It doesn't show up nearly as good on a photo.


 The name of this one is 'Grand Rabbits', a play on the name of the city, with views of Grand Rapids in its background.



 This one is made of assorted bottlecaps - from pop bottles to coffee cans.  It was made by kids in a local school.



 This wheelchair is made from toy soldiers.



 Some of the paintings, like this one look like a photo!









 As you walk around the city, you see art everywhere!



 I thought this piece was quite amazing.  It's made from nails, all put in to a specific depth and with different color heads.



This is a pencil drawing.


My friend Bonnie wanted to check out the police segway.  I don't know where the officer that was using this was.  I had read that there was going to be more police than usual on the streets because of the large influx of people.


Becky was looking for her 15 minutes of fame!


The side of this building was painted a few years ago as part of Artprize.


 There are some neat buildings in the city.


 I love this old building reflected in a new one.



Here's the Grand River, which runs through the city.


And now, here are the pieces that we saw from the top 20:

'Hoot' - This is one of several paintings.  This artist had the Artprize visitors help with her paintings, so there were all kinds of owl paintings, each one different than the others.



 This was very unusual.  It's called 'The sweepers clock'.  It was a video, with two men sweeping those lines of dirt and trash.  They did it in perfect time, so you could see what time it was.  When I took this photo, it was about 12:20.  The video was 12 hours long.  I don't know how they could do that for 12 hours and not get the time messed up.  This was on both the jurors list and the peoples list.  As hard as it would be, it doesn't really seem like art to me.


'Emoh - sculpture/time capsule/temporary home'.   A lot of the art isn't what I would call art, but it has a meaning behind it.  This ball is something a man has been living in to draw attention to homeless people.




 'Invasive Species - Shiny Seed'.   Kind of cool, but it wouldn't be in my top 20.



'Imagine If'.  This is made from small, flat metal plates hanging from filament string to create these winged horses.  They were really quite amazing to see.




 'The butterfly effect'.  This had thousands of brass butterflies hanging from the ceiling and covering the walls of a room.

 Here's a close up of the butterflies.



This is a close up of a piece called 'Sand Sturgeon'.   It looks one way up close, but from a distance it looks like this:


 Pretty neat!




 This is another one that doesn't look like much a first.  It's thousands of little squares of wood, each cut at a different angle.  However, when a light is shone above it, the shadows created make this:



Amazing!


 'Ashes to Ashes'.  This painting was huge!  It was very realistic, we could almost hear the fire crackling.



'To protect and to serve'.  The artist painted this group of 1930's motorcycle police before the current events involving police had begun.  They had post-it notes asking people to write how they felt the nation could heal from this.  The notes I saw were mostly positive in thanking our police.


 This is the winner of the public vote.  'Wounded Warrior Dogs'.   This piece is to honor and remember the physical and psychological price paid by med and women returning from battle.


Each piece is hand carved and it took him 14 months to complete.

It was another good year at Artprize!

18 comments:

Betsy Brock said...

I enjoy this post every year! I love the ingenuity as well as the artistic talent...so fun!

Sally said...

Wow - so many artists and venues. I couldn't choose a favorite if I had to; so amazing. Does Bob ever enter any of his amazing art pieces? I bet he'd win!

Thanks for sharing. Love it!!

xoxo

LL Cool Joe said...

Wow so many wonderful pieces it's hard to know what to comment on. There are some amazingly talented people out there. It looks like you had a wonderful time. I really couldn't pick a favourite either.

Anonymous said...

So happy you and your friends shared these pics from your visit. The art is so unique and creative. I can't imagine the time that some of these creations took to create. Nice to see glimpses of your city also.

Kerin said...

Amazing artwork, and such talented artists!!
Thanks for sharing with us!

~K.

Arlene G said...

I love strolling through art shows!!

Linda said...

What awesome photos, Mari. Loved the wheelchair, smiles.

Changes in the wind said...

Oh my that was so amazing. Can see how you could spend so much time there. People's creativity and abilities are truly remarkable!

Terri D said...

One of these days (maybe next year!) I'm going to attend this amazing art event! Thanks for posting these, Mari. I do remember previous posts about Artprize. Fantastic!

White Lace and Promises said...

Oh wow! That looks like fun! I honestly liked the ones that were not in the top 20. I loved the Fall one with the sidewalk lined with Fall trees and lamp posts. My favorite in the top 20 was the woodsy one with the fire crackling. I guess I'm a nature art lover. My daughter has a friend who worked sound in the college PR group that she toured with who paints for an art gallery in downtown Nashville. He paints with oils. His art is usually of skies and many of them look like a storm is brewing. They are very intense. Your posts just get better and better. I must expand my horizens.

Ramblings of a Retired Lady said...

Those are absolutely amazing...all of them. So different and so much talent. I would love to go there and see them in person.

Laura said...

Some things are definitely amazing, and some just make you wonder... we never made it out this year, so thanks for sharing the pics!

Jean said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this tour once again!! So many amazing works!!

Bethany Carson said...

Loved seeing all the artwork. Some of these are really great. Awesome effects!

carrie@northwoods scrapbook said...

So cool Mari! I love when you share this. Such amazingly talented people out there. Love it all! xoxo

Cherdecor said...

I enjoy walking through all your Artprize pictures every year. I think that it would be awesome to actually walk with you and see the art up close.

Just A Southern Girl said...

Wow! I really, REALLY want to go next year! We were actually close a couple weekends ago (Caledonia) but didn't have time to get into GR. Such interesting pieces you were able to see!

Jenny said...

I've been waiting for this post! I love your pictures of this event. It's my dream to be able to attend one day! I love the Wounded Warrior Dogs best too but I also love the filament winged horses. That's amazing. xoxo