Day 465

Last October I had something fun planned for every weekend, including taking a workshop with my mom up near Grand Rapids, MI. Since we were to be so close we planned to spend one day checking out Art Prize. Of course, none of this happened because I was sick. So when it came time for Art Prize  again we were not going to miss out.

So some may be asking "what is Art Prize?". It is an art show like no other. This was the sixth year it has been held in the downtown area of Grand Rapids. It included over 1500 artists set up in more than 100 venues. One of the many things that makes this show like no other is that they give away huge prize money. Half is decided and awarded by jurors and the other half is decided by the public through an online voting system. Each awards a grand prize of $200,000!!!! Yes I wrote that correctly. Then both award three $20,000 prizes. These are life changing amounts for sure. We planned to go for three days, but we ended up staying for five and didn't see it all.

This was the grand prize winner for the public vote last year, with a detail shot. It is a quilt.

This was the grand prize winner two years ago with a couple of detail shots. This drawing is amazing.

Neither mom nor I had been to Grand Rapids before, and we really liked what we saw of the city. We especially enjoyed the Amway Plaza Hotel's historic area with its wonderful Art Deco decor.

I loved this sun in the balustrade and this huge sun on the wall.

We saw lots of cool sculpture outside.

This was the word NOW all completely covered with clocks and watches.

As I said there were1500 plus artists! I'll post some more of what we saw tomorrow. We had such a great time and I am soooo glad we went! Thanks mom!