As ArtPrize stirs awake downtown Grand Rapids this week, the creative current doesn’t stop at the edge of the city. Just west of town, on Grand Valley State University’s Allendale campus, another celebration of art is beginning to unfold — one that moves between gallery walls, concert halls and the written word.
The celebration begins Sept. 17 with an exhibition reception and artist meet-and-greet with Maria Lux at the Calder Art Center. Lux’s work turns its attention to animals and the complicated ways humans understand, study and represent them. The exhibition will remain on view through Nov. 6.
The following day, Lux will lead an artist talk at the Kirkhof Center, followed by an afternoon panel exploring the intersection of animals and art. Both events take place on the Allendale campus.
In October, the focus shifts from the gallery to the concert hall. The Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet arrives for a two-night residency, beginning Oct. 5 with From Mozart to Childs at the Haas Center for the Performing Arts. On Oct. 7, the quartet will be joined by GVSU professor and cellist Pablo Mahave-Veglia for Schubert’s sweeping C Major Quintet at Cook-DeWitt Center. Both performances are on the Allendale campus and are free with reserved tickets.
Then, the celebration makes its way back toward the city.
On Oct. 15, GVSU Poetry Night brings award-winning poet Craig Santos Perez to Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids for an evening of poetry and conversation. Perez, an Indigenous Chamoru poet from Guam and an important voice in eco-poetics, will explore the intersections of culture, history, politics and the environment through his work. The event is free and open to the public.
Taken together, the series offers a reminder that West Michigan’s art scene is bigger than any single festival or district. While ArtPrize fills downtown with installations, exhibitions and curious crowds, GVSU is creating its own orbit of artistic discovery just a few miles away — and, for one evening, bringing that orbit back into the city.
GVSU Arts Celebration
- Sept. 17: Maria Lux exhibition reception, 4–6 p.m., Calder Art Center, Allendale
- Sept. 18: Maria Lux artist talk, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Kirkhof Center, Allendale
- Sept. 18: Animals & Art panel, 2–3 p.m., Kirkhof Center, Allendale
- Oct. 5: Ying Quartet, From Mozart to Childs, 7:30–9 p.m., Haas Center for the Performing Arts, Allendale
- Oct. 7: Ying Quartet with Pablo Mahave-Veglia, Schubert’s C Major Quintet, 7:30–9 p.m., Cook-DeWitt Center, Allendale
- Oct. 15: Craig Santos Perez, Poetry Night, 7–9 p.m., Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids
All events are free and open to the public, although some require registration or reserved tickets.
