ArtPrize® is a radically open, independently organized international art competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The opportunity to be featured at the Grand Rapids Art Museum is a huge honor. If you are within driving distance of this lovely city, I recommend that you stay a few days to witness the pulsating quality of a city enraptured with art, dance, music, theater and installations for the next three weeks. The weather is glorious this time of year and the city has over 1500 works of art competing for the grand prizes.
Ron Platt, the curator at the Grand Rapids Art Museum started with the theme of Nature/Nurture.
We returned from our whirlwind tour of Grand Rapids last night about midnight. And let me tell you, 12 hours on the road does not allow enough time to sort out all the feelings I went through this past week. Anticipation, doubt, happiness, pride, gratitude, joy, worry, amazement, confusion, giddiness and uneasiness to name a few.
The folks at the Grand Rapids Art Museum were gracious and welcoming. They invited us to a number of pre-opening events highlighting the work. The exhibit itself made me proud to be counted as one of the 15 artists within. I particularly liked the works by Judith Braun, Parisa Ghaderi, Stephen Dean and Shannon Plumb. Check out the link to see some spectacular work by these artists.
The Grand Rapids Art Museum sits in the center of Grand Rapids, a very lovely city in Michigan.
My work spanned a long hallway that allowed the five pieces to stand alone and isolated within the space. I have never seen my work in such a spacious museum setting. Some of the pieces looked a bit dwarfed in this setting. Seeing the piece I did in honor of my mother was such a treat. Wish she was here to witness it.
I was nervous when I was introduced to this crowd of lawyers, judges, city administrators and business execs at one of the pre-opening events. Turned out they were all friendly and eager to learn more about my work.
There was a steady stream of visitors pausing to consider my work. People at the museum said that over 140,000 people visited the museum ArtPrize show last year.