ArtPrize 2014: 20 Sweet Venues to Explore Over 19 Days
ArtPrize is a radically open, independently organized international art competition and exhibition that runs today through Oct. 12 in Grand Rapids.
Here are 20 sweet venues to check out during ArtPrize, and these are just the tip of the artistic iceberg for the public art extravaganza.
This year’s event is the sixth annual, with 1,826 artists having 1,537 entries at 174 venues.
For 19 days, three square miles of downtown Grand Rapids and Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in suburban Grand Rapids become an open playing field where anyone can find a voice in the conversation about what is art and why it matters.
Art from around the world pops up, and it’s all free and open to the public.
- 1
Amway Grand Plaza
The Amway Grand Plaza hotel, 187 Monroe Avenue NW, has 18 ArtPrize entries in its indoor and outdoor locales.
- 2
The B.O.B.
The B.O.B., 20 Monroe Avenue NW, has 77 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales.
- 3
Boardwalk Condominiums
Boardwalk GR Condominiums, 940 Monroe Avenue NW, has 69 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales.
- 4
Cathedral Square
Cathedral Square, 360 S. Division Avenue, has 40 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales. The theme for ArtPrize at Cathedral Square 2014 is “HeARTbeat: The Pulse of Art & Life.” The exhibition will focus on works that employ rhythm both as a formal compositional device and as subject matter.
- 5
Courtyard by Marriott Grand Rapids Downtown
The Courtyard by Marriott Grand Rapids Downtown hotel, 11 Monroe Avenue NW, has 15 ArtPrize entries indoors.
- 6
DeVos Place
DeVos Place Convention Center, located at 303 Monroe Avenue NW, has 103 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales.
- 7
Fifty Monroe Building
Fifty Monroe Building, 50 Monroe Avenue NW, has 24 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales. The entries are located in the lobby and on the second floor of the seven-floor building which houses Huntington Bank. On the fifth floor are the studios and offices of 97.9 WGRD, Channel 95.7, 100.5 The River, Greatest Hits 98.7 WFGR and 1410 AM The Touch.
- 8
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum & Ah-Nab-Awen Park
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl Street NW, has 28 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales. Neighboring Ah-Nab-Awen Park has two entries outdoors.
- 9
Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM)
The Grand Rapids Art Museum, 101 Monroe Center NW, has 19 ArtPrize entries at its indoor venue. "ArtPrize 2014 at GRAM: [DIS]COMFORT ZONES" will explore the powerful ways artists take risks and push boundaries.
- 10
Grand Rapids Children's Museum
The Grand Rapids Children's Museum, 11 Sheldon Avenue NE, has 10 ArtPrize entries indoors and outdoors. Its exhibition theme matches its mission of celebrating childhood, the joys of learning and the value of play. Its Kids' ArtFest: A Celebration of the Arts is noon to 5 p.m. Sunday *(Sept. 28). Meet its ArtPrize artists from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today (Sept. 24) in its Outdoor ArtPrize Gallery.
- 11
Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids Community College has two venues with ArtPrize entries. GRCC's Spectrum Theater lobby, 160 Fountain Street NE, has 14 entries indoors. GRCC's Paul Collins Art Gallery, 143 Bostwick Street NE, has seven entries indoors.
- 12
Grand Rapids Public Museum
The Grand Rapids Public Museum, 272 Pearl Street NW, has 15 ArtPrize entries at its indoor and outdoor locales.
- 13
Grand River & The Bridges (Blue & Gillett)
The Grand River, which runs through the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, has one ArtPrize entry in it. Crossing over it are the Blue Bridge, which has two ArtPrize entries on it, and Gillett Bridge, which has one entry on it.
- 14
Grand Valley State University Pew Campus
Grand Valley State University's Robert C. Pew Campus, 301 W. Fulton Street, has two ArtPrize entries. In addition, GVSU's permanent collection now numbers more than 10,000 works of art, which were collected in support of its educational mission.
- 15
Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University
Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) has exhibition space in the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building, 17 Pearl Street NW. It has eight ArtPrize entries indoors. KCAD's selectively-curated themed exhibition is titled "I Am: Money Matters."
- 16
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, 1000 E. Beltline Avenue NE, has 16 ArtPrize entries. Those are part of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park's invitational exhibition titled "Highly Recommended: Emerging Sculptors," which surveys the complexities and diversity of sculpture today through the innovative efforts of developing sculptors.
- 17
SiTE:LAB @ The Morton
SiTE:LAB @ The Morton, 72 Monroe Center NW, has 13 ArtPrize entries indoors. The Morton is a vacant 90-year-old hotel, which has been made available by Rockford Construction Company. SiTE:LAB creates temporary site-specific art projects aimed at facilitating dynamic collaborations between the arts, education, business and cultural communities.
- 18
Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts
The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA), 2 W. Fulton Street, has 20 ArtPrize entries in its indoor locales. UICA's exhibition theme is "Collaboration," which features art and artists that build upon exploration into inspired combinations. UICA is part of Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.
- 19
West Coast Coffee
West Coast Coffee, 55 Monroe Center NW, has 33 ArtPrize entries indoors. West Coast Coffee has supported local artists since it opened in 2005.
- 20
Western Michigan University — Grand Rapids
Western Michigan University -- Grand Rapids, 200 Ionia Avenue SW, has 35 ArtPrize entries in its fifth-floor space. WMU-Grand Rapids and WMU's Frostic School of Art chose artist Nayda Collazo-Llorens as the curator for the exhibition, which focuses on original contemporary art by 46 artists.