Civic Studio presents ON THE RIVER

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- An art project, more than three months in the making, will culminate with presentations on December 3 and 4, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on the Interurban (Gillette) Bridge over the Grand River, in downtown Grand Rapids.

INTERVAL is a presentation of work produced in Civic Studio's ON THE RIVER project. Set up on September 1, the project is operating in a portable studio on the Interurban Bridge. Research and early findings were presented during the ArtPrize competition, and has continued on site since then.

Paul Wittenbraker, a faculty member in the Department of Art and Design at Grand Valley State University, started the Civic Studio Project in 1999, as a course in public art. Each semester, his students establish a temporary studio in the community and make art that is locally relevant. Studios have been organized seven times in different locations within the city of Grand Rapids. As with each studio, the Interurban Bridge offers a new perspective on the relationship between art and public life.

"The bridge itself is an interval of physical space, connecting two sides of the city," said Dulcee Boehm, who is the project curator. "The Studio time spent experiencing and researching the area resulted in work that dealt with absence and perceptions present in interval spaces. Projects in various media engage these topics as they are found in memory, music, and movement through the city."

The Interurban Bridge is a pedestrian bridge north of the Pearl Street Bridge and South of the Michigan Street Bridge.

For more information, visit http://civicstudio.org.