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With the Grand Rapids Art Prize voting finally totaled last night, we know that most of 1262 entries didn’t win, any money, that is. The Top Ten will now compete for:
- 1st Place – $250K
- 2nd Place – $100K
- 3rd Place – $ 50K
- 4th-10th - $ 7K
Not exactly small change when it comes to art. I imagine most of us don’t have anything close to a $7000 piece of artwork in our homes.
The Top Ten Entries are all worthy and I will have to check them all out before I cast my final vote for the winner. I really enjoyed the thumbs up, thumbs down voting for all the artists. It was really great to be included in something this big and this important to our community.
But I digress, I want to talk about one of the Art Prize entries that didn’t win:
The Red Ball Project:Grand Rapids. We have friends in Heritage Hill who have served as hosts for 2 artists in this event. They provide housing and a home base while the artist puts up, installs, paints, or whatever they have to do to enter their art work. We were fortunate enough to meet the young artist of the Red Ball Project, Kurt Perschke and his wife Kate, while we were touring Art Prize.
This Art Prize entry is a large (15 ft diameter) red inflatable ball that is placed in strategic and well known places to tickle the senses and make you look again. Did I just see a large red ball there? Kids love to punch it and jump into it…..have fun with it. The Red Ball has been all over the world since 2001, Sydney Australia, Portland OR, Chicago IL, Korea, Rome Italy and Barcelona Spain, just to name a few of the spots it has visited.
Kurt and Kate are newlyweds and they are experiencing the Grand Rapids Art Prize together. They have been in Grand Rapids for at least 12 days and yet I doubt they have had time to see much beyond the venues of their Red Ball placement in major downtown venues.
They noted that the citizens of Grand Rapids seemed to take their voting responsibilities quite seriously, carrying notebooks and colored markers to note their reactions to different Art Prize entries.
So even though Red Ball didn’t win the art prize Grand Rapids was a winner. We got exposure to art work that never would have found our city without sponsors or a paid venue. So, thanks Kurt and Kate. It was a fun experience for all of us in Grand Rapids!
Westbrook Realty Grand Rapids Real Estate
Copyright 2009 All rights reserved
Unless you have hiding under a rock, or chained to your computer, The
Art Prize is the BIG NEWS in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Art Prize was
announced earlier this year as a top prize of $250,000 for the top
art work selected by a public vote. Highly controversial, as those in
the art community doubt that the average person is qualified to
judge art work. It is sure to create a buzz around art and that is
the point.
The Art Prize exhibits opened yesterday and we went for our first
tour today. With 1262 artists entered in over 159 venues, it is no
small task to try to see them all. We took some time to tour the
large sculptures and the Waters Building today. The others will
have to wait until another day.
The voting will take place over a 2 week period, with just a thumbs up
vote to keep an entry in the running. The top 25, top 50, and top 100
are posted on the web site so we can all keep track of who is ahead.
Here are a few photos of the large installations at the Blue Bridge,
so you can get an idea of what Grand Rapids is up to:
The Nessie Project
Sarah Grant Table and Chairs
Our sources tell us the Nessie Project was supposed to go farther out
in the Grand River, so there would be more movement but the cranes
could not get it installed any farther from the shore.
The giant Table and Chairs is a very apt piece for Grand Rapids as we
were known as “Furniture City” in the first half of the 20th century.
Come on out and see the art work for yourself and don’t forget to
register to vote for your favorite pieces.
Westbrook Realty Grand Rapids Michigan
Copyright 2009 All rights reserved
Photos by Bonnie Westbrook
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