ArtPrize

Some of you who've been with me for a while may remember ArtPrize. It started in 2009 and takes place every Fall in the city of Grand Rapids. It's an untraditional art contest where artists from all over the world can share their art, and the people that come to see it can vote on their favorites.  The art is displayed all over, outside of buildings, in museums, banks, restaurants and painted on buildings!  This year over $400,000 will be awarded to different artists based on jury votes and popular votes. The top popular vote piece will get $100,000!

Bob and I went to walk around and see some of this years art. I will say that we were a little disappointed this year, because it seems more and more of the art seems to have some statement on politics, the earth, violence... and often those pieces don't look so much like art to me. For instance, hanging clothes on a line and writing messages on them was one of the pieces.  But, to each their own!  We still had fun walking around and seeing things.  Here's a few pieces we liked.

It's hard to see all the details in this piece but it moved and was made of found and recycled items.

This is a woven tapestry with yarn wrapped trees.

This is all drywall screws, sunk to different levels to portray a face.

A painting, titled 'Potential'

This piece is knitted!

and this is the photo they used as a pattern.

This is a great pen drawing of Morgan Freeman, but even more incredible when you know the whole thing is just one line. The line is drawn closer together in the darker areas.

An Eiffel Tower reproduction with elevators that worked!

This man had what looked like a whole display of photos.  However, when you looked closely, this is what you see...

Each piece is actually a mosaic, made of tiny triangles of paper.

I'll end with this.  It's not part of ArtPrize, but one of my favorite spots in Grand Rapids.  I love the old building, reflected in the new.

There were hundreds of pieces all over the city, so this is just a taste f it. It's a great time to visit Grand Rapids!