Take a peek at Nessie!

I went to the John Ball Zoo yesterday with the express purpose of ... shopping! ... at the gift store there. We had just been to the Minneapolis Zoo with Adam and Emily over the weekend, but I didn't have enough time to really do any shopping at the gift shop while we were there. And then this morning, I remembered there was quite a nice one right here in town. I love zoo gift shops!

When I drove into the parking lot at John Ball Zoo, I was greeted by "Nessie"! I had forgotten all about her! Last year was the first annual ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. Artists from just about everywhere entered their works of art. This piece was called "The Nessie Project" and she was actually placed right in the Grand River ... downtown ... and I missed seeing her there! She is 60 feet long (in five sections) and 16 feet tall. She came in SIXTH in the competition. Her creators won $7000. The winner of ArtPrize was a piece titled "Open Water #24", an oil painting of unbelievably beautiful waves but NO shore ... I was glad that it won the $250,000 prize. I think that piece is now part of the Grand Rapids Art Museum permanent exhibit.
Grand Rapids is gearing up for the second annual ArtPrize. I hope I'll have more time this year to actually go downtown and see the exhibits. I was glad to see Nessie yesterday at the zoo ... thought I'd share her with you!