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I attended an ArtPrize event last week where a friend said, “I am looking for your recommendations for what to see.” Hmmm. Not a problem. Right off the bat, I’d say, “Go see the G-Rap Map” at 33 Sheldon. Yep. Shameless promotion. It’s our son–Justin Smith’s entry. It is...
About a month a go I had a chance to zip in and talk a quick look around the big Quilt show in Grand Rapids. This event draws people from all over the Mid-West. While a lot of the quilts are too folksy for my taste, some strike me as fabulous, interesting and creative. […]
Today my body is in Grand Rapids but in my head I’m in Paris. Why? I’m reading an interesting book by an Australian Journalist who moves to Paris to follow a boyfriend and last week I toured a blockbuster exhibit in Chicago called “Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity.” Guess what? It’s...
Last August a huge quilt show came to Grand Rapids. Apparently making guilts is a big deal because the turn out to attend to see the more than 900 quilts on display was one of the largest in Grand Rapids area. Thousands thronged our streets to enjoy not only the massive show, but also...
Another year…..ArtPrize has taken over Grand Rapids. Some call it a carnival. Some a grand experiment in public taste. Some, like me, are happy to enjoy the creativity and energy that the Art Competition with the largest monetary reward engenders. It transforms our city. My...
One of the major things I wanted to do in South Beach on recent trip was to see the Frank Gehry designed New World Symphony Hall. I had been reading about it since it opened over a year ago and was quite intrigued. The funny thing is that we had trouble finding it. The […]
My traveling buddy, Peggy, and I were elevated to great excitement when we learned late last summer that the Chicago Architectural Foundation planned a tour for members of the newly opened Poetry Foundation office in River North in Chicago. We had both read about what sounded like a well...
If you happened to wander into UICA (Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts) during ArtPrize this year you might have noticed the striking front desk. It doesn’t look like most reception desks you see at art museums, public...
If you do a Google search on 3-D Street Art, one of the first names to pop up is Edgar Mueller. He’s been doing this fascinating form of art for a lot of years so his work is front and center in the world of the “Art of Deception.” In this form, artists use […]
The whole town is a buzz with ArtPrize. I meandered downtown to check it out recently at night. It felt a little bit like Halloween as my friend and I wandered around looking for treats….only visual treats instead of sweets. We checked out the Hub–former UICA building, reinvented...