ArtPrize 2011, Grand Rapids, Michigan

ArtPrize is billed as an open art competition giving away the world's largest art prize. It's an experiment that has been conducted in Grand Rapids for three years. Until this year, I had never been able to attend it, but this year, two missionary colleagues lovingly enabled me to be able to attend. There were nearly 1,600 entries located throughout the heart of Grand Rapids, stretched over a five-mile area. I knew I would not be able to walk throughout such an extensive area, so these dear friends put me in a wheelchair and facilitated my attendance. I truly enjoyed it!

I've uploaded just a few of my favorite entries. Everyone can vote on their favorite piece, after signing up at the hub. I wasn't able to do that, but if I had been able to do so, I would certainly have voted for the bronze statue of Lincoln seen above. The child with President Lincoln is supposed to represent Tad. This piece was created by James Michale Maher.

I was also a great fan of the piece entitled President Gerald Ford visits ArtPrize by Sunti Pichetcheiyakul from Thailand. This statue was made of bronze and fiberglass resin. It accurately depicted President Ford's face, although the statue showed a man smaller in stature than President Ford was. Unfortunately the case in which it had to be displayed made it a bit difficult to view and show it.

The first place winner was this piece entitled Crucifixion. It was a mosaic originally commissioned by a church in California. Because it was the first-place winner, it will be left in Grand Rapids and the artist will do another piece for the church.

If you live around Grand Rapids, I'd encourage you to visit next fall so that you could see these works of art. Since I mentioned that there were almost 1,600 entries, it's obvious that I showed only a few of the pieces.

The fact that the weather was absolutely wonderful, with highs in the lower 80s many of the days, was just the icing on the cake.