Amanda at ArtPrize 2014: Women's City Club

This has been one of my favorite venues thus far (I will admit at this writing I haven't been to either the Art Museum or the UICA both of which I expect to be fabulous). I was leery of taking my three-year-old in as I had visions of crashing antiques but they were well-prepared for visitors and had great gallery space set up on the lower level. I am wondering if I am more traditional in my art tastes than I thought!

A few of my favorite photography pieces:

Flight by Tim Priest
Such dramatic beauty.

The Bus Never Stopped by Richard Deming Jr.
So last winter was indeed trying. But this image is beautiful.

Lake of the Clouds Sunrise by Kevin Clifford
I might be partial to this image having vacationed in the Upper Peninsula near this place.


A lovely wood block print:

Woodland Wisdom by Donna Mitchell-Collins
I always love the look of any type of block printing. And of course nature as a theme is always beautiful to me.


And of course anything involving fabric and fiber interests me:

Snow by Gloria McRoberts
So so very beautiful and amazing. She really captured the stillness that envelopes a landscape adrift with snow. I would love to watch how she created this.

Carroots by Toni Johnson Mendina
It's quilting! It's fabric! It's inspiring to me. I need to do some experimental wall hangings of my own. Check out the layers of soil.

Amanda at ArtPrize 2014: Meijer Gardens

Since this is the last week of ArtPrize I better show you what I want to show you while you still have a chance to see it for yourself!

While I wasn't as impressed with the exhibit at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park as I was in years past, there are still a few pieces worth discussing. I didn't know that photography was allowed (without flash) until I was on my way out so these photos are from the ArtPrize website.

This piece, Armonico CLXVII by Antonella Zazzera, was my very favorite. It is woven out of copper wire and it the size of it amazing. Something so large composed of small, thin strands. It has serious presence.

This one – Wallwave Vibration (anatomy of a diagram) by Loris Cecchini – was pretty awesome as well. I think it made the jury's short list if I remember right. I appreciate that it is all textural and that soft shadows become just as much a part of it as the material it was made of (polyester resub if you were curious).

Feather Child 1 by Lucy Glendinning was just plain disturbing. I can't forget it. I've never seen anything like it before.

This one – House by Osman Khan – also continues to haunt me. My children wanted to buy it sice it was for sale – I think they had visions of playing house – but I can't get it out of my mind for more disturbing reasons. The house is so stark and empty and lonely. And those lights remind me of some very un-home-like places, places that people might live but feel (and are) so much more institutional. There's a better image in this mlive slideshow.

I also feel this one – Die Hutte Brennt / The Shed is on Fire by Katrin Albrecht – deserves a mention. I was intrigued by the medium: bricks made of compressed clothing but not so excited about the installation itself.

Adventures in art

In May my husband and I headed off on a weekend away to celebrate our anniversary. He always surprises me and makes all the plans himself. This year he very generously planned our trip around a huge craft show and art show that happen simultaneously in East Lansing. I should mention that of the two of us I am the one with interest in art. He doesn't really share it but like a good spouse he'll share the experience of it with me. So like I said, very generous.

Besides the weekend event, there is a new(ish) art museum on the campus of Michigan State University that I have been talking about seeing for a year or so now. So that, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, was actually our first stop. The architecture alone is worth a visit. It is awesome and angular and so very foreign among the more traditional brick buildings. I loved it!

The interior gallery space reminds me a lot of Grand Rapids' own UICA – odd shaped, cement walls, an interesting challenge to any artist showing site-specific works there.

I do want to point you to this article (with pics) on artist Imran Qureshi. His work was very interesting and somewhat disturbing but from a marketing standpoint it was kind of neat to come across it painted on sidewalks throughout town.

My very favorite piece was Border Unseen by Mithu Sen. It is made of fake teeth and something pink that looks like your gums. It stretched through a long narrow space like a dinosaur's spine. The walls were painted the same shade of pink. And if you looked carefully there were tiny little figurines perched amongst the teeth. Was it strange? Absolutely! Disturbing? Absolutely! Awesome? Absolutely! I love weird modern art that looks absolutely nothing like anything I've ever seen before. What a challenge and an inspiration to my own visual dictionary.

There was also an exhibit of quilts from Pakistan and East India that I appreciated. The level of skill was astounding.

A to Z at the Grand Rapids Public Library!

I recently completed a very fun project at work: a new exhibit entitled The Grand Rapids Public Library Archives A – Z.

Every once in a while I get to design an exhibit that is curated by the staff of the Grand Rapids History and Special Collections Department. The staff did a spectacular job of picking and choosing all sorts of interesting bits out of our archives, one for each letter of the alphabet. I have always wanted to do an A to Z annual report but I think this was an equally fun project to work on.

The big boards will be on display at the Main Library through the end of this year. There is also a brochure version of the exhibit which is turning out to be a darn popular print piece.

Past exhibits I had the honor of designing include this one on the history of football in Grand Rapids (which was actually very interesting and I am seriously not an athlete or a sports fan!) and another on women in Grand Rapids.

Football?

Yes, football! I now have the task of designing exhibits for the Local History department at the Grand Rapids Public Library. We have a fabulous collection in our archives and these exhibits are a fun way to show them off. This latest exhibit, titled Gridiron's Golden Era: Early Days of High School Football in Grand Rapids covers the 1890s through the 1950s.

Now let me be the first to tell you I have never been an athlete and I have never been a true fan of any sport. In fact, football is one of those sports that is kind of difficult for me to understand. So imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed working on this exhibit! Besides showcasing our local history, the exhibit also tells the larger story of the sport gaining popularity in America.

We got featured in the Grand Rapids Press this week, a lovely article that refers to my panels as "mosaics." Plus, the online version of the article has some of the video footage.

It's going to be up at the Main Library through the end of this year so come on down for a visit!

A quiet night at the Gardens

During the summer the Meijer Gardens are open late on Mondays as well as their usual Tuesdays. My daughter and I went the other night and walked on the boardwalk through the wetlands. I didn't bring a stroller and it was definitely a long way for her little legs.

We were awarded with lots of wildlife sitings along with our Chihuly glass though. First, a soaking wet muskrat with a yellow fish in its mouth crossed our path. Then we spotted, heard, and observed over 40 bullfrogs. We also enjoyed an assortment of birds: geese, ducks, herons, redwing blackbirds, and songbirds. On our way back in, while we were in the woodland garden, we spotted a skunk! How many critters can you get in one trip? I think everything was out and about since it was evening.

Find more information on Chihuly and his work on artsy.net.

Chilhuly again!

Back to the Meijer Gardens for Chihuly again. This time a hot and sunshiney day. I still don't think I've seen everything. I am still highly recommending you go if you're in Grand Rapids!

Find more information on Chihuly and his work on artsy.net.

Something else I would like to do

Print making!

I recently read this profile of artist Lisa Price and her printmaking business and was again reminded of how much I adore the look of bold and basic prints. I dabbled in linoleum prints in my image-making class in college. I think it takes a bit of drawing skill to get things to look how you want them to but I enjoyed it despite my lack of drawing experience. Lisa Price sells her work under the name Artgoodies.

I am also a fan of local artist Alynn Guerra. She sells her work under the name Red Hydrant Press. I went to an opening at her studio last fall and was totally inspired. It was a Day of the Dead exhibit called Dead End Prints (follow the link, the exhibit is up online!) and other artists were showing their prints as well. When I went back to pick up a piece of her work I purchased she took the time to answer my questions and show me the presses she uses. Very sweet of her!

I must say, sewing and quilting are probably the focus for now but I am going to have to go at the print making someday in the future for sure.

You know you want to see it!

Saturday was a perfectly crappy day to go to the Gardens but I really have been itching to see the new Chihuly exhibit so I said "let's just go anyway." We're members thanks to a lovely Christmas gift so it's quite easy to go any old day and not have to do it all. I figured we could at least see the glass that was inside.

The blue-purple flowers become a part of the art.

The gray sky looks good in this photo!

I love these "bowls."

Amazing! How did they get those up there? Easily the most pleasant surprise of our visit.

Glass within glass.

Reflected in the water.

I absolutely can't wait to get back there on a sunshiney day and explore the grounds. I know there's more to see! The exhibit is up through the end of August. Don't miss it!

Find more information on Chihuly and his work on artsy.net.

Michigan – Land of Riches

There's a new and strange art show in town: Michigan – Land of Riches. Exhibits and specimens left frozen in museum limbo at the old Public Museum were handed over to artists to use as they wished. Some of the works are simply beautiful arrangements of old objects. Others mix and match available objects in unexpected. Still others seem to have been created elsewhere and imported into the space for display. The mix is fascinating and the sheer amount of art to be seen is impressive.

I went Friday night during the Art. Downtown. event and the exhibit's opening. Needless to say, the place was packed. My family was with me as well. My toddler daughter was at turns mystified and fascinated. My scientist husband tolerated the strangeness well. I am going to have to go back because we only managed to do the first floor and perhaps a quarter of the second floor. I think I'll be able to absorb it better with less people around.

The thing that inspires me the most? It's all this big crazy experiment. Why not use this old building and old stuff in a new way?

Legacy Exhibit

I had the pleasure of designing the exhibit Creating a Legacy: The Women of Grand Rapids in December and January. As is too often the case,  it was a rush to the finish line! Fortunately, my efforts will be enjoyed for a full 8 months before we'll be switching it out. So you've got through the end of August to come visit it on Level 4 of the Main Library.

The exhibit highlights women in Grand Rapids' history, both far past and more recent, and the impact that they have had on the city. When the idea was originally presented by the local history department, there was going to be a portrait and a description for each women. I was concerned that was going to leave a lot of empty space on the board and was thinking about what else I could do with the design.

The original thought was to put the women in chronological order. The department then changed their mind and decided on alphabetical order so that the color and black and white images would be mixed up. When they decided on that, my mind thought about how to highlight their names or initials as a piece of art to accompany each woman. There are over 20 women in the exhibit and I wanted to have some variety beyond flat color. Then I got the idea to frame their initials in a texture. The easiest and quickest texture I could come up with was taking photographs of the different fabrics the Library is decorated in. We've got some rooms with fabric wall coverings and some reupholstered furniture.

Here's a sample of the result:

Since the initials had a nice border, I also put a solid border around the portraits. This helped to highlight the image, and give it more visual weight:

Lastly, the women in the department went above and beyond by gathering up additional images from the archives to help tell the story of these women.

Putting up the exhibit:

If you're curious about the mother and daughter pictured above, I've copied and pasted their information for you to read: