ArtPrize and Project 1 - Grand Rapids

[GRDadof3]

Kib, I have heard this as well. I know someone that helped set up 3 out of town pieces, and two of them sold w/in the first two days. Nice!

Joe

I know that a certain member of the Devos family (Betsy..cough... ahem) made quite a sizable purchase of a piece at WMCAT.

[Veloise]

A few more cell phone pics from today's ride:

This is sad. This venue (next door to 47 Commerce) was issued a blank sign. They drew the orange logo on the other side, and started drawing it on this face. Taped to the top: three battery-operated disco ball lights, to try to bring folks down past all the construction.

Just past the sign, an art glass octopus busting out of a wooden packing crate.

Young Kim's piece, 47 Commerce. A photo does not do it justice. (The medium is unstable, and is starting to shop signs of community input. Go see it ASAP.)

The buzz is working. Several folks asked where the "sand painting" was.

Edited October 5, 2009 by Veloise

[John E]

For ArtPrize 2010, it would be cool to have a special artsy fireworks show for a grand finale.

~John

[GRDadof3]

Young Kim's piece, 47 Commerce. A photo does not do it justice. (The medium is unstable, and is starting to shop signs of community input. Go see it ASAP.)

The buzz is working. Several folks asked where the "sand painting" was.

Hope you corrected them and told them it was salt and clay.

[Veloise]

Hope you corrected them and told them it was salt and clay.

It's also light bulbs, match heads, and (what is that black substance??).

Nope, not my job. No spoilers here. I sent someone to City Hall saying, "you have to see it. And part of it is hanging over the railing on Monroe."

[droonus2000]

I was doing security at the HQ today. It was packed near the 3 top 10. A lot of the questions I got were, Where is the balloon guy? UICA how do I get there? Division , Fulton, Sheldon And Where are the the top 10 here. Also Where's the horse made of nails? I think they meant moose, the BOB. We had well over 8000 go though the HQ today.

Got to watch Daigh and Ortner, chatting last night after doing security. Both were absolutely honored to be in the top 10.

The only restaurants I saw closed at 6 pm were Taco Bob and The Dog Pit. Pita house was packed

Can't wait til next year

[GRDadof3]

I was doing security at the HQ today. It was packed near the 3 top 10. A lot of the questions I got were, Where is the balloon guy? UICA how do I get there? Division , Fulton, Sheldon And Where are the the top 10 here. Also Where's the horse made of nails? I think they meant moose, the BOB. We had well over 8000 go though the HQ today.

Got to watch Daigh and Ortner, chatting last night after doing security. Both were absolutely honored to be in the top 10.

The only restaurants I saw closed at 6 pm were Taco Bob and The Dog Pit. Pita house was packed

Can't wait til next year

I can't even imagine it being bigger (which it will be, mark my words). My estimates = MORE artists, different venues, probably more clustered toward downtown, longer period for initial voting (encompassing two weekends instead of one), 50,000 registered voters, 1 Million+ votes.

[Allison Slater]

The new install is a small circle of code near the stage lawn. And the mowing did not remove all the paint; still shaded from the first round. When I asked how things went yesterday (the heralded wedding), Deb said that the happy couple did not show up. No reception, no tent, no wedding party, no guests.

Guessing that, after all the headlines, Stephanie's mom found them a small country club hall in the 'burbs.

The bride probably tried to file a complaint against mother nature regarding the weather and had no luck.

[arcturus]

Young Kim's work is spectacular at night. There's something about the mind's focus an overhead bulb provides that ambient light detracts from. In fact it was blind luck I saw it ... left Rockwell's with a buddy of mine and had it not been for a wrong turn I would of passed it completely.

[Kib]

Deb said that the happy couple did not show up. No reception, no tent, no wedding party, no guests.

Maybe the groom saw the handwriting on the wall and reconsidered...

[bTW - Looks like I have a successful transaction on aquiring a piece, meeting the artist Saturday @ The BOB... I'd go into detail but don't want to jinx anything]

[Veloise]

They've added a drawing, with prizes. Tonight on S. Division, several indoor venues had fishbowls with slips to fill out with name & e-mail. Prizes include hotel stays, dinners, other stuff. Haven't seen any publicity about this anywhere, and a venue host said that it was very fuzzily announced to them on Weds. (If the idea is to draw folks to the remote venues, let them know about the contest.)

Woody Redux.

The ladders (Catholic Central) are simply incredible.

Godisnowhere was very good. There was more...I was unlocking my bike at The Building With The Nonsensical Name, 8:15, and folks were still arriving and trying to get in. Directed several groups to outdoor venues.

The best maps are the ones produced by BC/BS, with a walking route. Available from a 7' human-shaped piece of blue plastic, various locations. The one by the ladders had quite a few, and I redistributed.

Degage now has two new indoor murals, which will stay. Very nice.

And Heartside has a couple murals outdoors.

Best artist statement ever. (It's on "We're All Connected.")

Tooth Fairy; he's all over town.

Chairs (GR-made pieces wrapped with wool).

Is your vacant building a venue? Take advantage of the many visitors and publicity. Spiff it up, light it up, and how about an event banner hanging out front?

If you have the wall space, let people know about the building.

Alten Place was very well done. Each artist had an entire room with a variety of pieces displayed. The rotating work in the front window is an unusual medium: nail polish.

Edited October 7, 2009 by Veloise

[John E]

New York Times Art Section has an awesome ArtPrize article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/arts/des...08artprize.html

~John

[Veloise]

Another evening, another ArtPedal.

Tooth Fairy at the Y.

Worst.Venue.Ever. (Background is the cell tower building.)

Peace sign at City Hall

Traffic cones

Wonder if this was inspired by a certain relative of Rick DV whose campaign signs were plastered all over the highway rights-of-way on election day 2006??

Nessie at night

Funny, no artist statement. Oh wait, this is from taking a wrong turn in the Tanglefoot building (which could have hosted many more artists).

These appeared to be strips of banding material that secures boxes for shipping. Fastened to the floor with thumbtacks. (Tanglefoot.)

An artist's desk in Tanglefoot. He'd also done a portrait sketch of Eddy Mercxx.

This busker is from Detroit, and his brother suggested that he come over here to play banjo and sing. He has a bass drum and cymbals on his back, activated via ropes around his ankles and a shuffle step.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Veloise

[RegalTDP]

From the NY Times article John posted:

[Devos] is already planning next year’s competition, which may include some changes in the voting procedure as well as in the display spaces.

Some artists who were assigned outlying spaces complained that their work had not received as many visitors as those clustered downtown, putting them at a disadvantage when it came to voting.

No kidding right? I was thinking maybe one way of fixing this would be to split the Art Prize area into "regions," and each region would have its own top ten cut-off round before moving to the final top ten. The top ten of an outlying region would get some publicity and be on a somewhat more equal footing with the top ten in a central region in order to compete for the final round.

Edited October 8, 2009 by RegalTDP

[Veloise]

... I was thinking maybe one way of fixing this would be to split the Art Prize area into "regions," and each region would have its own top ten cut-off round before moving to the final top ten. The top ten of an outlying region would get some publicity and be on a somewhat more equal footing with the top ten in a central region to get into the final top ten.

Ooooh, I like that. Maybe that would help with shuttle buses and finding venues, too. My comments to the A/P suggestion box have included increasing the density of venues, and regionalizing them would certainly help.

[jeang]

Ooooh, I like that. Maybe that would help with shuttle buses and finding venues, too. My comments to the A/P suggestion box have included increasing the density of venues, and regionalizing them would certainly help.

That was a great idea RegalTDP.

Veloise, great photos. Now where are these AP suggestion boxes?

[GRDadof3]

From the NY Times article John posted:

No kidding right? I was thinking maybe one way of fixing this would be to split the Art Prize area into "regions," and each region would have its own top ten cut-off round before moving to the final top ten. The top ten of an outlying region would get some publicity and be on a somewhat more equal footing with the top ten in a central region to get into the final top ten.

That's a sweet idea! That's where the brackets could come in.

[Veloise]

... Now where are these AP suggestion boxes?

artprize.org, Contact Us, then look for a link to Feedback about halfway down.

In other news, the UICA created a wildcard 11th entry. They gave a special award to Young Kim.

[wingbert]

Well that about wraps up ArtPrize for this year. The only outstanding question that remains is how much time does Rick Devos spend on his hair to make it look like he spends no time on his hair?

I keed I keed. Kudos to him for putting this together. I am absolutely impressed with what this event has done for the city.

[Veloise]

Well that about wraps up ArtPrize for this year. The only outstanding question that remains is how much time does Rick Devos spend on his hair to make it look like he spends no time on his hair?

I keed I keed. Kudos to him for putting this together. I am absolutely impressed with what this event has done for the city.

Last night he was wearing a tux jacket over what looked like a PJ top.

[GRDadof3]

Are we really talking about what the man wears?

[John E]

See the videos and photos that I took at the Celebration.

http://bit.ly/12sGqZ

~John

[John E]

Here is a cool HD video that I ran across:

[GRJunkie4Life]

Anyone out there that went to the finale think that Rick Devos' nonchalant style actually caused the announcement of the winners to be somewhat anti-climatic? He didn't play into the anxiety of the crowd...a few strategic pauses could have done wonders, and maybe even some passion/excitement in his voice. Too nonchalant for my liking. Overall though, ArtPrize ROCKED!

Edited October 10, 2009 by GRJunkie4Life

[grandrollerz]

Too nonchalant for my liking.

I wasn't there but there heard others say he was "unassuming" and "humble", both good qualities but there is something to be said for a little bit of flair too