Last week at this time, we were wandering around Grand Rapids, Michigan and checking out the sixth annual ArtPrize competition.
ArtPrize is a uniquely interactive event designed to engage viewers and artists by creating a community centered on interaction between the two groups.
This year saw more than 1,500 artists show their work in venues ranging from museums, to gardens, to restaurants, to vacant buildings repurposed as unique art spaces, to schools, to churches and to the windows of shops, salons, offices and other businesses throughout the city.
Artists, art experts, art critics and art lovers flock to western Michigan for this annual two-week festival/gallery show/art competition originally envisioned by organizers as a city-wide event spurring conversations and interest in art. But it has become a vital part of the fabric of the community, and each year's event seems to leave its own small mark on the city in the way of permanent public art installations and an art community that flourishes year round.
Artists compete for $560,000 in prizes. Public voting determines the winners of $280,000 of the cash awards, which includes a $200,000 Grand Prize. A jury of art experts and critics determines the winners of the rest of the cash awards, and it is interesting to see how the expert and the public vote either agree or widely differ from each other.
The first round of public voting concluded last weekend. The second round of public voting continues through the end of today. ArtPrize organizers announce the winners on Friday evening, with all of the entries remaining on public display through this weekend.
This, our fifth year at ArtPrize, proved to be a little rainier than other years we've gone, but we still managed to see the work of plenty of artists on display, including at least a couple of the pieces that made the top 20 lists for Two-Dimensional Finalists, Three-Dimensional Finalists, Time-based Finalists and Installation Finalists.
Here's a photo round-up of some of the pieces we saw last week.
Even with as many of the entries we managed to see during our three days in Grand Rapids, we only seem to manage to see a small fraction of all of them each year.
That's part of what makes us enjoy returning to ArtPrize year after year. We love seeing some of our old favorites, but there is always something we missed seeing the year before or a new venue to enjoy seeing each time we go to ArtPrize!
© Dominique King 2014 All rights reserved
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