Guide to Grand Valley ArtPrize events and artists

Use this guide  to plan your route and cast your votes for alumni, faculty and participating ArtPrize artists with a link to Grand Valley.

The Grand Valley State University ArtPrize Exhibition Center features 30 outdoor works of art and ongoing events. Visit http://www.gvsu.edu/artgallery for a complete list and event schedule.

Nearly 70 alumni from Grand Valley are participating artists in ArtPrize 2011 at venues throughout the city of Grand Rapids. For a complete list and map visit www.gvsu.edu/alumni. Many of the alumni artists will be available to speak about their ArtPrize works during a reception on Tuesday, September 27, from 5:30-6:30, at West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology. For more information, contact Abigayle Sloan, assistant director of Alumni Relations at 616-331-3591.

Two Grand Valley faculty members that are participating in ArtPrize are Norwood Viviano and Deanna Morse.

Viviano, who teaches sculpture at Grand Valley, and his wife Sarah Lindley, who teaches sculpture at Kalamazoo College, have teamed up for an intriguing ArtPrize entry at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. Their “Kohler Pile” is a large floor installation comprised of more than 75 black toilet tank lids with miniature glass models of the original Kohler Factory Plant, created during an Arts-Industry residency in the same factory in 2010. They worked alongside factory associates utilizing the same technologies and processes that they were using to create Kohler bathroom fixtures. For details, visit http://www.artprize.org/artists/public-profile/49997. 

Morse is a professor of film and video production in the School of Communications at Grand Valley. An independent film/video artist specializing in animation and personal short films and videos, Morse’s ArtPrize entry is at Westminster Presbyterian Church. “Wish you here…” is a collection of six short video postcards from Spain, Hot Springs National Park, Porcupine Mountains State Park, Ukraine and the artist’s yard. Each examines nature through the lens of time. Morse will sell DVDs of the work, with every dollar going to the Film/Video Scholarship at Grand Valley. Morse has also planned artist talks and family-friendly, hands-on events, “Postcards Unplugged” each Saturday during ArtPrize, from 2-4 p.m. For details, visit http://www.artprize.org/artists/public-profile/1960.

Finally, Byron Center artist Kimberly Gill pays tribute to WWII veterans from the 32nd Red Arrow Division, including her late father, in an ArtPrize mural that depicts their images. The piece was inspired by the Grand Valley documentary “Nightmare in New Guinea” produced by students and faculty of the Department of History and School of Communications and included interviews with the veterans. See more at http://www.gvsu.edu/gvnow/index.htm?articleId=50764FB9-AE45-BA13-4239429682909B30 or attend her ArtPrize reception with four remaining vets at First United Methodist Church, 227 E. Fulton, on Tuesday, September 23 at 2:30 p.m.