Wow, October already! It's starting out non-spookily: sunny and mild, and most deciduous trees are still hanging onto mostly green leaves. It will be a far different story by the time we get to Halloween, let me tell you!
2 of the 3 weekends of ArtPrize 2022 have been works of art in their own right. Last weekend... not so much. It was chilly, gloomy, and occasionally wet, but it didn't stop Mom and grandma from heading out to appreciate some human-made art!
After listening to Mom talk about her favorites and going through her photos, we each decided on our own 5 favorites! Since I'm writing this beast, we're going to go in reverse alphabetical order, so I can save my top 5 for last. =)
Lily's Picks
Awe of the Eve
an awesome painting indeed, embedded with gemstones, crystals, and glass for texture and sparkle
Beyond the Fence
a collection of meticulously-detailed pencil drawings of farm animals
Lily's favorite was this one of some chilling calves.
Creation, Destruction, Reflection
this is just one example from a series of clay pots that were deliberately broken and had impressively realistic dioramas of real-life historic sites crafted inside
From Sea to Shining Sea
a series of 4 paintings on brushed metal depicting familiar Michigan scenes
The artist is a veteran, hence the title. They were installed in a pool in a park, and light reflecting off the water made these even cooler.
Sleeping Bear Dunes
The Mackinac Bridge
Pictured Rocks Lakeshore
lily pond
This last one is a photo from ArtPrize's website, because when Mom was there, the sun was glaring in such a way that a photo wouldn't work well. ;)
PAPER IN BLOOM
Tons of hand-cut paper flowers lit with a color-changing light. It was originally created to be a centerpiece for the artist's wedding. To give you an idea of scale, this was roughly as tall as a person.
Mom waited until it was blue to take her photo, naturally.
Julie's Picks
Borealis
bronze sculpture covered in crystals
A clear favorite for obvious reasons!
Hummingbird
willow branch sculpture
Some of the sticks were painted to give it some subtle color.
Lost. Hope for silence. The way home.
oil painting
I can't look at this one without getting a little teary, but it's gorgeous.
Please Don't Touch the Wildlife
Sharpie on bedsheets
Julie's favorite was this African elephant, but also on display were a gorilla, leopard, rhino, lion, and a whale tail. The artist's motivation for these was to raise awareness of endangered species.
Riverside Reflections
These were all hanging in a horizontal line, which made it tough to get a good photo, so we pulled this image from the ArtPrize website.
The story: the photographer forced herself out for a walk one gloomy post-winter/pre-spring day in Riverside Park - it's a long, skinny park in Grand Rapids that runs along the Grand River. About 3 minutes in, "the sun suddenly broke through the clouds, creating the most spectacular reflections! ... Sometimes on our darkest days, small miracles appear in nature, even in the heart of the city."
Felicity's Picks
Dune Bears
Felicity's favorite of several new Hondas that got a unique look for ArtPrize
How fun would it be if it was commonplace for cars to be elaborately decorated instead of just being solid colors? If I ruled the world...
Lost
Who hasn't felt like this guy sometimes?
Stoney Dreams
This was Felicity's favorite in the H20 - 360 series of water sculptures made from recycled foam and plastic.
The Last Bison
metal and spray paint
I can see why Felicity picked this one - what a cool design!
Being Alone
These are some of Felicity's favorites from a series of 18 black and white photos illustrating the beauty and peacefulness in being alone.
These were framed and artfully arranged on a wall, but there was lots of glare when Mom was there in person, so the above is from the ArtPrize website again. My Picks!
Ascension
oil on canvas
According to the artist, this is a Friesian stallion romping through deep Michigan snow. =)
I love how she captured the detail in the facial structure, hair, and snow spray.
BLOOM
hand-cut colored paper
So many tiny pieces went into this masterpiece!
Apologies for the extensive glare, but this was too lovely not to include.
Twigg the Forest Dragon
Tree turned into dragon? How cool is this?!
The mushrooms and fungus... XD
This was a crowd pleaser, to be sure.
Heron from the Windblown series
glass mosaic
I didn't get excited about the more abstract mosaics in this series, but this heron... Wow!
Sisters
welded steel nails
These life-size bears seem so happy! I hope that wherever they end up after ArtPrize, they stay together.
Here's another view of them from when Mom stopped by at night. =)
I think ArtPrize and the fanastic weather have Lily in an extra good mood, because she has agreed to let us keep all 3 of speedy steeds we lassoed in September!
In celebration, we gave Mango some mane!
He's going to stay "Mango," since we can't think of him as anything else now... and since the humans had mangoes at lunch on the day we made our decision. =)
We're still trying to pick new names for "Fort Hamilton" (the grulla mare) and "You Might Wonder" (the appy stallion), though. We need more interesting names than Shadow and Popcorn, but that's all we've come up with so far. Hmm...
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