Art Prize

Here are some of the photos I took at Art Prize - an unique art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Begun last year, the art is displayed in venues across the city and the winner is determined by public vote.
This year there were 192 venues, 1713 artists, and 42,496 registered voters! The top prize of $250,000 is the biggest art prize in the world. It's an event that's had a tremendous impact on Grand Rapids. The place was thronged with people when we were there. Here's just a little bit of what we saw.
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This is "Vision" by David Spriggs of Montreal. It's one of the "Top Ten" of the competition. Made from sheets of Plexiglas that have been marked somehow to make this effect, it's different from every side and angle. I thought it was amazing.

This is a detail of "Dream Collection" by Heather Holloman. The Mason Jars hold objects pertinent to the dreams described on the tags. It was fascinating and I wished I would have spent more time looking at it and reading the tags, but it was crowded, my feet were hurting, and I just wanted to get somewhere to sit down for a few minutes. Darn.

This is "Chroma Passage" by Janice Arnold. A hallway of the Grand Rapids Art Museum draped with handmade felt. I loved this.

Detail of "Chroma Passage"

This is "Lure Wave" by Beili Liu of Austin, Texas.

Also one of the Top Ten.

This is my favorite - "Svelata" by Mia Tavonatti of Santa Ana, California. A beautiful image of a woman and waves, it looks like a large painting, but when you get close you realize it's a mosaic.

Detail of Svelata:

This is "Salt & Earth: garden for Patricia" by Young Kim of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This image is created with salt and red clay. It was on the floor in a dark room, so hard to photograph, but amazing to see. This is also one of the Top Ten.






You'll find the Art Prize site at http://www.artprize.org/