Grand Rapids, Michigan, is currently hosting the world’s largest Artprize that allows any artist (well known or not) the chance to showcase their work around the downtown area. After seeing countless Facebook albums dedicated to Artprize (I’m a Grand Rapids native), I went home this past weekend to check it out for myself.

Creative and sexy logo

I was very impressed to see so many people walking around downtown, especially on a cold and rainy day. According to their website, “Artprize exists to reboot the conversation between artists and audiences on a grand scale.” On one hand I feel like they fulfilled their mission. The experience of seeing the art was enhanced by, oftentimes, the presence of the artist. This gave visitors a chance to truly communicate with the artist about their work. However, I think rather than connecting with artists, Artprize gives an opportunity for the “audience” or the public of Grand Rapids to connect with each other.

Artprize is also a way for Grand Rapids Artists to win some serious cash.  The ten prizes range from the first place winner receiving $250,000 to the tenth place winner receiving $7,000. Registered visitors can vote for their favorite artists through texting or going to artprize.org.

This trend of “coming together” has been seen frequently in the Grand Rapids area thanks to a series of urban experiments conducted by Rob Bliss the past couple years. His Artprize entry, “100,000 Paper Airplanes and Melodies Over Monroe,” is a video of him and his team launching 100,000 brightly colored airplanes from the rooftops of six large buildings surrounding Monroe Avenue while thousands of musicians came together to play Sigur Rós’ “Olsen Olsen” in the street below. Through synchronized launches, the paper airplanes created a rainbow effect in the sky as they floated down from the tall buildings. According to the Rob Bliss Events fan page on Facebook, this was “an event of brotherhood, a celebration of life and a reminder that we are all in this together.” He was definitely right about that seeing as 20,000 people (and some people suggest more) flooded Monroe Avenue to witness the launching of the airplanes and hear the melody “Olsen Olsen.”

Imagine That! by Tracy Van Duinen

Other popular Artprize entries include “Imagine That!” by Tracy Van Duinen. Van Duinen’s piece was a mosaic mural outside of the Grand Rapids Childen’s Museum that included the artwork of children mixed in to a larger image of three children’s faces. This piece was definitely my favorite. I loved the way Van Duinen incorporated tiles that children painted along with an array of materials like mirror, multicolored tiles, and clay figurines. The mural will remain outside the entrance of the museum after Artprize ends.

Another popular piece is “Nessie on the Grand” by Thomas Birks, Richard App, David Valdisseri, and Joachim Jensen. This piece is a life size wooden sculpture of Loch Ness, a sea monster or dragon-like creature and was placed in the Grand River.

"Nessie on the Grand"

I’m sad to see that Artprize is coming to a close this upcoming October 10th. It awakened downtown Grand Rapids and brought something exciting for people to come together and see. Hopefully Artprize will act like a catalyst for other events to come to Grand Rapids in the future.

If you want to see other artists’ entries for Artprize (there are seriously so many amazing pieces of art!), a photo pool of various artists’ works can be seen here.