ArtPrize returns to Meijer Gardens

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Virginia Lee Montgomery's Sword in the Sphinx. Courtesy Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park will be one of the satellite venues hosting ArtPrize from Sept. 16-Oct. 3.

Virginia Lee Montgomery’s Sword in the Sphinx sculpture will be on display for the ArtPrize competition, which allows artists from all over the world to showcase their artwork throughout the Grand Rapids area and compete for up to $250,000 in juried awards and prizes.

The Sword in the Sphinx sculpture will remain on display after ArtPrize, until Oct. 31. There will also be two short videos shown in the O-A-K Orientation Theater.

There will be other sculptures by VLM in the courtyard level of the Welcome Center such as Marble Ponytails, which are named after ancient deities, including Aurora, Andromeda and Medusa.

“We are excited to be participating in ArtPrize again,” said Jochen Wierich, assistant curator and researcher. “Thanks to a Project Grant from ArtPrize, we were able to invite a fantastic artist to activate our new Welcome Center. VLM is a brilliant creative mind who works across different media, including sculpture and film.

“VLM’s Sword in the Sphinx is a contemporary interpretation of an ancient figure that blends with our gardens and sculpture collection in stimulating ways and will be a big draw for ArtPrize visitors.”

The ArtPrize exhibition areas will be free to the public during regular Meijer Gardens hours, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday and Wednesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday; and 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on Tuesday. All other areas will require an admission fee.

There also will be drop-in exhibition programs. At 2 p.m. on Sept. 26, Meijer Gardens will host a program entitled History, Hair and the Body: Conveying a Feminist Perspective by Dr. Suzanne Eberle, a professor at Kendall College of Art & Design.

Amber Oudsema, a curator of arts education, will be presenting Composite Creatures: A Brief History of Monsters at 2 p.m. on Oct. 12. at Meijer Gardens.

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