Yesterday, down by the riverside ...
Last year, our fall trip to Texas overlapped ArtPrize here in Grand Rapids and I completely missed the whole thing. I was determined this year to see and experience at least some what was going on downtown with this nationally-acclaimed event; so yesterday, Mr. Jones and I took in just a little bit of the wonder of ArtPrize. This is the last week of the 19-day contest ... by Wednesday, everything will be over!
There are 1,713 entries this year displayed at hundreds of different venues from museums to restaurants to coffee shops ... to the DeVos Place Convention Center! We started at the convention center because there were 54 pieces of art to view there. Wow. I took a lot of pictures, but somehow it doesn't feel right to post them without giving credit to each artist ... and I naturally neglected to take note of the artist's names, etc. There are a lot of folk writing about ArtPrize, lots of good articles in the Press, and I hear there's a bunch of stuff out there on the bloggosphere ... but I'm not qualified to give much comment to works of art ~ I haven't studied art or art history! 
So I'll just show you two of them that I was rather partial to. This gorgeous stained glass mosaic (above) is called "Svelata" by Mia Tavonatti. I'm hoping it wins the $250,000 grand prize ...
This is a close-up of "Svelata." Isn't she beautiful?
There was so much to see! Photography, oil and acrylic paintings, sculpture, abstracts ... art that told stories and got into people's hearts. 
I loved this piece ... the artist said he saw a photograph a friend had taken and asked if he could do a painting of it ...
He is using a technique called Pointillism ... and I don't know enough about art history to know who was the first to use it ... but I have always been fascinated by it and I love it like a do any impressionistic work. We walked down to the Grand Rapids Art Museum to see some more of the entries ... but it was SO crowded with folk trying to absorb all of this art! I'm going to go back down Monday morning and hope that there will be less people around! I really have only begun to see what is down there ... and the voting ends Wednesday ... and everyone gets to vote! Isn't that cool? 
It was fun to begin to experience ArtPrize. We have such a beautiful city here in Grand Rapids. It was good to see the city so full of people and vendors ... and smiles! I'm looking forward to seeing more works of art in the next few days.
Last year, our fall trip to Texas overlapped ArtPrize here in Grand Rapids and I completely missed the whole thing. I was determined this year to see and experience at least some what was going on downtown with this nationally-acclaimed event; so yesterday, Mr. Jones and I took in just a little bit of the wonder of ArtPrize. This is the last week of the 19-day contest ... by Wednesday, everything will be over!
There are 1,713 entries this year displayed at hundreds of different venues from museums to restaurants to coffee shops ... to the DeVos Place Convention Center! We started at the convention center because there were 54 pieces of art to view there. Wow. I took a lot of pictures, but somehow it doesn't feel right to post them without giving credit to each artist ... and I naturally neglected to take note of the artist's names, etc. There are a lot of folk writing about ArtPrize, lots of good articles in the Press, and I hear there's a bunch of stuff out there on the bloggosphere ... but I'm not qualified to give much comment to works of art ~ I haven't studied art or art history! 
So I'll just show you two of them that I was rather partial to. This gorgeous stained glass mosaic (above) is called "Svelata" by Mia Tavonatti. I'm hoping it wins the $250,000 grand prize ...
This is a close-up of "Svelata." Isn't she beautiful?
There was so much to see! Photography, oil and acrylic paintings, sculpture, abstracts ... art that told stories and got into people's hearts. 
I loved this piece ... the artist said he saw a photograph a friend had taken and asked if he could do a painting of it ...
He is using a technique called Pointillism ... and I don't know enough about art history to know who was the first to use it ... but I have always been fascinated by it and I love it like a do any impressionistic work. We walked down to the Grand Rapids Art Museum to see some more of the entries ... but it was SO crowded with folk trying to absorb all of this art! I'm going to go back down Monday morning and hope that there will be less people around! I really have only begun to see what is down there ... and the voting ends Wednesday ... and everyone gets to vote! Isn't that cool? 
It was fun to begin to experience ArtPrize. We have such a beautiful city here in Grand Rapids. It was good to see the city so full of people and vendors ... and smiles! I'm looking forward to seeing more works of art in the next few days.
3 comments:
I went with a friend on Thursday and we really enjoyed what we were able to see--you really can't see even half in just a few hours. I didn't go last year, either. "Just didn't get around to it." But I will make a point of going after this, because it was so much fun.
When you go back on Monday, try to stop by 99 Monroe and go into the installation piece with the tubes (clearly I didn't take note of names, either)--you can walk around in them and it was one of my favorites to experience. I think you would like it, too. :)
Thanks for the tip, Suz ... I'll do that! :)
I would like to exchange links with your site jonesfamilyjunction.blogspot.com
Is this possible?
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