Grand Rapids Art Prize

Day two of the Grand Rapids Art Prize and our day to visit with Pat Finlan.  This is a wondrous event that is in its 7th year and runs for two weeks at venues spread across the downtown city of Grand Rapids and some in Meijer Gardens.   These pictures are just a tiny taste of what this event displays.

Surgical gloves blown up and floating.  Symbolic of ?????

Rose and Pat spreading their wings

Lots of unusual art

Two tons of marble in dozens of sections brought from Italy

Carved from a single large tree base 

An interesting sculpture and one of many pieces of art around and in the museum.

Bronze boy below and girl above symbolizing youth.

Acrylics, not photos

This huge display is a combination of fabric and paper...not a photograph!  The creators live in Beulah, MI and this was created from a photograph of a wooded area in their locale.

Explains the artwork.

I want one of these benches!

 

I may give him a call1

Is this another piece of art?

 

Pistons...the artist thinks something like this should have been place in Detroit long ago!

Huge ceramic wll piece made by mental health patients who were invited to break plates, etc to release their frustrations and then made into the Phoenix mural

This entire map is made of Petoskey stones

A work in progress 

Entirely made of newspaper

Huge fabric cicada

Americana is the title and shows the scale of some of these pieces

Hanging in DeVos Hall and about 25 feet high

These bikes are entirely made of wood!

This is made of one continuous piece of paper 40 feet long

This mural is made of recycled shoes

Erin, over a thousand pieces and in the shape of a bathtub..Can you make one for us?

Made of serving service, spoons, etc.

This remarkable piece is over 10 feet high and almost 30 feet wide.  It is entirely charcoal thumb prints

You can see the thumb prints up close

Getting darker...

More prints

Another closeup of the thumb charcoal prints

Sully from "monters, inc" about 5 feet high

Peace spelled out in 20 languages all linked together

This wooded chain is carved from a single, unbroken block of wood and hanging in the BOB (Big Old Building) where we enjoyed free drinks and appetizers courtesy of Pat's financial advisor!

 c

The story of this chaing

The beginning of the chain coming from a single piece of wood from northern Michigan