As the air turns crisp and the sunlight wanes, crowds descend upon Grand Rapids for their yearly dose of the city-wide art celebration that is ArtPrize. The harbinger of autumn in West Michigan, ArtPrize welcomes thousands, giving the local economy a healthy dose of TLC and turning downtown into a bustling metropolis for just over two weeks.
Two years ago, ArtPrize changed hands, becoming a partnership between the City of Grand Rapids, Kendall College of Art and Design, and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. It may be under new management, but one thing’s for sure – ArtPrize is here, and it’s not going anywhere.
I talked to four different artists, each bringing their own unique flavor of art to the festival this year.
Bold and Beautiful
Part artist, part professor, Allison Baker teaches sculpture at Indiana University. While she dabbles in a variety of media, including printmaking, video, and sculpture, her work explores consistent themes around societal structures and the ways specific demographics are affected by them.
“There’s this idea of labor, and particularly gendered labor, that comes up in my work quite a bit,” Baker said. “Another big theme of my work is class division. I’m a first-generation college student; I come from a working-class background. It’s just something that comes up in my work a lot because both of these worlds that I’m in – academia and an art, you really can’t escape the class divisions and that’s something that’s become really central to the body work that I’m producing.”
Her ArtPrize entry, “Second Shift” will command attention from its post outside Van Andel Arena. In keeping with her other large public projects, this massive sculpture features abstract shapes while communicating a message that’s important to her.
“It’s a little disarming in a way,” Baker said. “It beckons for you to come closer and then you’re just like, ‘Oh it’s so super fun and playful,’ and then you’re like, ‘Oh wait, she’s trying to say something. Oh, what she’s trying to say is also important,’ she continued. “I think that these issues are really important, and one of the reasons that I love sculptures so much is because it’s corporeal and it’s physical – you have to deal with it in space. What I love about monumental sculpture is making it so big that you can’t ignore it.”
The topics Baker covers may be as heavy as the sculptures themselves, but the color palettes she uses are decidedly bright. The florescent yellows and bubblegum pinks add a touch of whimsy to the serious subject matter.
“For me, I think especially being a woman, there’s something that’s a little funny and tongue-in-cheek about making these giant things that are really colorful and really playful, but they’re still made out of steel and concrete,” she said. “There’s always this element of humor in my work, like this comically large dish glove. I think when you’re tackling heavy and serious topics, even more talking about work and women’s work and second-shift labor, I still think it’s so much easier to approach things through the lens of comedy.”
The Wonder of Wimmelbild
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Elijah Haswell’s work is worth tenfold. He specializes in wimmelbild, a German word for busy, detailed pictures; think “Where’s Waldo?” Drawing inspiration from creators like Jim Henson and Walter Wick, Haswell’s sprawling scenes are full of mischief, hilarity and downright fun.
“I tripped headfirst into a passion for isometric Wimmelbilds in 2022, and I’ve never looked back,” Haswell said. “There is something about isometric perspective that ‘clicks’ in my brain; it makes it possible for me to easily showcase multiple layers of characters in a single scene. I keep a running list of wimmelbild ideas that I refer back to whenever I’m starting a new project. I love being able to turn everyday scenarios into interesting and engaging illustrations – even the most mundane waiting room could become extraordinary with a strategically placed balloon salesman and runaway ducks with too much time on their hands.”
The piece he designed for ArtPrize this year pays homage to winners and fan favorites of ArtPrizes’ past, including such notable projects as “A. Lincoln,” “Intersections,” and “SteamPig Experiment.”
“My ArtPrize wimmelbild was inspired by the magic of ArtPrize and the artists that make it happen,” Haswell said. “Where else can you see ten different pieces of art in a barber shop, walk outside to a saxophonist performing in front a portrait made entirely of thousands of pennies, before continuing to a restaurant that features another seven artworks displayed behind a slam poet, other than ArtPrize? How can you possibly capture that feeling visually, other than in a wimmelbild?”
Haswell populates his elaborate scenes with anything you can imagine, but he also takes care to incorporate people of marginalized races, genders and abilities.
“As a proudly Autistic and Queer Transgender man, I’m acutely aware of the lack of diverse disability representation in media and art and I am constantly working to expand my catalog of characters who use stylish mobility devices, prostheses, hearing aids, AAC devices, glasses, service dogs, and more,” Haswell said, “It’s so important to me that everyone is able to see themselves reflected in my work.”
As part of the ArtPrize emerging artist series this year, Haswell’s work will be featured on a limited-edition ArtPrize poster.
Calder Controversy
Brooklyn-based Nate Harrison combines his interests of copyright law and filmmaking with his Grand Rapids roots to tell the story of the renowned monument and symbol of ArtPrize that stands in Calder Plaza.
“I entered my most recent film, called ‘Pour le Peuple,’ which is the French phrase for ‘For the People,’ Harrison said. “I describe it as intimate essay film that retraces the controversial history of one of modern art’s most iconic public sculptures, Alexander Calder’s ‘La Grande Vitesse,’ located, as everyone knows, downtown. The film examines the politics of the sculpture’s ownership and control, given Grand Rapidians who first loathed and then embraced a work of modernist abstraction, in time giving meaning to such an esteemed work of art.”
Most of Harrison’s work explores the relationship between art and intellectual property law and runs the gamut of media, including audio, video, and print.
“In a past life, I worked as a graphic designer and art director for print and screen media for clients such as Jeep, Ford, Coke, Sprint, British Airways, and other large corporations,” he said. “I also produced a lot of electronic music as a passion in my spare time. It was through all of these experiences that I started to become curious about creative expression’s interdependence on legal frameworks.”
Whether you drive past Calder Plaza every day on your morning commute or it’s your first time seeing “La Grande Vitesse” in person, Harrison’s essay film invites you to experience a story that’s personal for him.
“I really hope my film can convey a story about the Calder sculpture that the kind people of Grand Rapids may not know, even if they are familiar with the sculpture.”
AR-t
David Frison IV is a digital artist who leverages augmented reality technology to transform existing spaces and create new ones. His interest in building digital environments blossomed at Kendall College of Art and Design, where he studied graphic arts.
“For the past 10 or so years, I’ve been doing graphic design at a professional level,” he said. “In 2019, I got really into 3D art and augmented reality. Since last year, I’ve gone full in to becoming a 3D AR artist. I go into spaces and scan them, which is creating a 3D digital copy of a space, and then add in elements that I create in 3D to those spaces.”
His work allows him to tap into an appreciation for architecture he’s had since a young age and explore new ways of looking at the world.
“I’m making my own elements, scanning a building, creating a building, adding elements to it, creating a story from all those elements, reinterpreting a whole bunch of this and that into an accessible, walking experience that anyone can have anywhere just on their phone,” he said. “That’s always been an inspiration for me – to be able to experience spaces that both exist and don’t exist.”
Frison first entered ArtPrize in 2016 as part of the Cultura Collective’s “This Space is Not Abandoned” project. This year, he’s going solo with his immersive augmented reality experience, “Building Realities,” that transforms downtown into an interactive cityscape.
“This project that I’m doing is quite ambitious,” he said. “What I’m doing is creating a digital copy of downtown Grand Rapids. I’ll be getting specific landmarks – Van Andel Arena, all the way to the DeVos Place. The project will include a bunch of markers downtown where you scan a QR code, and what pops up is a digital reinterpretation of that section of the city,” he continued. “Seeing the GRAM in the Edo period in Japan; seeing the DeVos Place with Brutalist architecture; you’ll be seeing multiple structures in different architectural styles and being able to look around and explore those structures true to scale.”
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