by Mary Isca Pirkola

Artwork by two recent Grand Valley graduates will be exhibited for an entire year in the Michigan House of Representatives Anderson House Office Building in Lansing.

Pieces by Monica Lloyd and Danielle Fritz were selected for Art in the House, which displays select artwork by students from each of Michigan's 15 public universities.

The ninth annual Arts in the House project unveiled 26 pieces of artwork selected this year during a reception October 16. The artwork will hang through September. Art in the House is a partnership between the Presidents' Council, State Universities of Michigan and the Michigan House of Representatives to promote art in everyday life.

Ed Wong-Ligda, professor of Art and Design, said both of these former students are very focused and dedicated artists who spend hours upon hours to create work with a high level of craft, excellent composition and interesting concepts. He noted they were an interesting contrast in personalities and styles. "Danielle was very active and social and her work is for children, while Monica, who was very quiet and private, creates work geared toward a more sophisticated adult audience," Wong-Ligda said. "Their art looks completely different, but the underpinnings of their work are the same, and when it comes to their strong work ethic, they are identical."

Five, by Lloyd, was the final piece in her series about creation. "It is the most colorful and complex of the series," said Lloyd, '13, a native of Grand Rapids who graduated with a bachelor's of fine arts degree. "I work a lot in detailed drawings and explorations of pattern in a conceptual way." This piece is exhibited on the Anderson House 13th Floor South.

Lloyd has worked as an intern at Avenue for the Arts. Some of her work has been exhibited in Grand Rapids at the Green Well restaurant, Cherry Street, and in the Free Radical Gallery on South Division.

The Boy at the Window, by Fritz, is a mixed media piece using acrylic, watercolor, pen and ink, and colored pencil. "The piece was inspired by a quote from my 4-year-old brother, Braeden, and is based on the idea of how adults lose their creativity as they age," said Fritz, '13, a native of St. Clair Shores who also graduated with a BFA, then participated in the Disney College Program in Orlando, Florida. This piece is exhibited on the Anderson House 5th Floor South.