ArtPrize, the grand public art festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan always offers a lot of great photo opportunities.
Today, I'm sharing a few images from our time at ArtPrize last weekend.
It always amazes me to see how many artists use materials in unusual ways to create beautiful, interesting or provocative pieces of art.
There is usually at least one piece each year made out of scrap or recycled metal. This year, artist Paul Cassidy created the 1,400-pound fish, "Scappie Dick", out of things like old computer cabinets, a gas station awning and large fan units.
Margery Amdur created "Amass" from a mass of foam rubber cosmetic sponges that filled much of one gallery wall and spilled onto the floor.
Fraser Smith's "The Lake" looked like a fabric quilt at first glance, but Smith intricately carved it from a block of basswood. Viewers could touch a smaller carving included with Smith's display to see how he created the larger piece from wood.
Competition can be especially fierce among artists for space in the larger exhibition and showcase venues, but some of the more interesting and intimate pieces are in some of the smaller, neighborhood spaces like West Coast Coffee. The coffeehouse was a perfect spot to relax a while with an ice tea and leisurely check out the three-dozen ArtPrize entries displayed there.
Some of the ArtPrize pieces are big "serious" works of art, but I often like pieces that are a little more quirky or light-hearted like artist Jim Dolan's "Albert Einstein Between Theorems". This was one of the first pieces we saw as be began touring some of the venues right in downtown Grand Rapids. Dolan's welded-steel piece, powder-coated in gold, depicted Einstein in moment of relaxation and joy, tossing a plastic flying disc. It may sound a bit strange as a concept, but it really did seem to work in respectfully showing the revered scientist in a real human moment.
Check out yesterday's post for a recap of our experience checking out the art and attending the big award announcement program at this year's ArtPrize.
Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.
© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved
Not being very creative or artsy myself, work like this always amazes me. Who would ever think of art when they looked at a cosmetic sponge?
Posted by: Sonja | October 12, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Sonja-I had some more photos of other parts of the cosmetic sponge piece...it was pretty amazing! Another portion on the floor consisted of cosmetic sponge pieces that were dyed different colors.
The wooden quilt was the one that really wowwed me because I really did take it for a fabric quilt at first glance!
Posted by: Dominique King | October 12, 2012 at 02:03 PM