{"id":12747,"date":"2025-09-04T21:46:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T21:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/?p=12747"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:14:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:14:47","slug":"artprize-grand-rapids-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsmidwest.org\/stories\/artprize-grand-rapids-michigan\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive Art Competition Turns This City Into a 4.5-Square-Mile Gallery\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

September means the end of summer, the start of fall, and\u2014in true Michigan tradition\u2014the return of ArtPrize<\/a>. It\u2019s one of the largest art competitions in the world, founded in 2009. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-plus-week festival spans across Grand Rapids (pop. 200,117) this year from September 18 to October 4. Galleries, breweries, and parks set the scene for open art crawls, renowned artist competitions, and creative events for the public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, ArtPrize is awarding $600,000 in fundraising money to the winning artists, based on juried and community voting. The nonprofit says<\/a> most of their budget comes from \u201ccorporate giving, followed by foundations, individuals, and government grants.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 900 works will be on view, from artists across 39 states and 18 countries. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n
\n\n
\n
\n
\n \"A\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Ellen Dziubek via ArtPrize<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n There are 155 venues at this year’s competition, which is one of the largest in the world. Pictured is ArtPrize 2024’s Opening Night Celebration.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"Two\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Keyon Lovett<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Artist Keyon Lovett, right, with sound designer Huey Mnemonic in Lovett’s winning 2024 ArtPrize installation piece “456: A Reflection on Fatherhood.” He recreated his childhood living room, filled with letters to his father, who was shot and killed when Lovett was a baby: \u201cArtPrize is a very good platform to be able to do something on a grand scale . . . You go from painting on the street to now your work is being seen by thousands.\u201d\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"A\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Tatsuki Hakoyama<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Tatsuki Hakoyama’s “Feel the Need to Breathe on My Own,” won ArtPrize’s 2024 Asian Art Community Award. “I’ve always been intrigued by this idea of what contributes to our values and culture and how we behave,” he says. “So that work, and a lot of my own work in general, is often analogical, figurative paintings that kind of works with that tension that exists between what we want to be, who we can be, but also what limits us from doing things.” \n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"A\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Tatsuki Hakoyama<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Tatsuki Hakoyama, from Grand Rapids is a multiyear participant of ArtPrize: “It is a way to educate also the public on what do the people in the field, the jurors, see as art that stands out, and what do the general public see as intriguing art? And having a discourse on: What are those differences? Why does that happen?”\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"a\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Cameron Stalheim<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n “I just want to represent idea of growth within Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There’s so much creativity and grit, and I think we try really hard in the Midwest to be seen as artists,” Cameron Stalheim says. “My community of artists is just so talented and so beautiful, and just so willing to be part of the conversation. And so I feel like this is an opportunity to start that and to get us on the national stage.”\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"A\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Teresa Dunn<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n “I’m connected to a very long line of women that date back about 20,000 years, who is one of the five original maternal lines that populated the entire Indigenous Americas,” artist Teresa Dunn says. “It gives me chills every time I think about it and I say it out loud, and I imagine that line of me to my mother and her mother going back all that time and being a part of this incredible line of women.”\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"A\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Bryan Esler via ArtPrize<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Anyone 13 years or older and present at the event (at least once!) can vote for their favorites via an app.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"Three\n
\n
\n \n\n\n\n<\/g>\n\n\n\n<\/clipPath>\n<\/defs>\n<\/svg> Photo Credit: Bryan Esler via ArtPrize<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n Partnering venues in the 4.5-square mile “ArtPrize District” collaborate with all kinds of artists, showcasing works indoors and in outdoor spaces. Pictured is “Tale of Ten Dresses” by Rebecca Humes at JW Marriott at the 2023 ArtPrize.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n
\n