Grand Valley kicks off ArtPrize with events

Thirty outdoor works of art, a panel discussion and weeks of hands-on events will welcome visitors during ArtPrize 2011 at the Grand Valley State University Exhibition Center, throughout the grounds of the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. All events are free and open to the public.

The Grand Valley site provides visitors a shuttle stop, voter registration site, an ArtPrize store and an information tent on Front Street at the L.V. Eberhard Center. The art works include a variety of materials, scales and messages by national and international artists. Included this year is Buenos Aires artist Juan Batalla, whose work is also featured in the Grand Valley Fall Arts Celebration Art Gallery exhibition “Arte Argentino Actual/Contemporary Argentine Art,” opening October 6 in Allendale.

Henry Matthews, Grand Valley’s director of Galleries and Collections, said Rick DeVos will join Batalla and other artists for a panel discussion, “Perspectives on ArtPrize,” Friday, September 23, 5:30 p.m. at Loosemore Auditorium, in the DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton.

“This year we designed our annual DeVos Art Lecture to give an insider’s view of ArtPrize,” said Matthews. “We’ve included a panel of highly creative individuals who will share their perspectives as artists and educators, from Buenos Aires and Amsterdam, to Michigan.”

A series of events for visitors of all ages will also be held throughout ArtPrize, including:

-    Try It! Opening Night September 21, 6-8 p.m. Make your own “Mini-monument to Mother Nature” out of soft recycled stone and then add it to the collaborative assemblage sculpture. Additional sessions will be held on Fridays and Saturdays from 3-7 p.m., and Sundays from 1-4 p.m. through October 7.

-    Playing with the Wind, Opening Night September 21, 7 p.m. Stop by the ArtPrize entry, “Win, Win, Wind” to hear Sue VanderVeen read her new children’s book, Farming the Wind, and make a paper pinwheel to take home. “Win, Win, Wind! Protecting our Great Lakes for Future Generations,” organized by Richard VanderVeen of Lowell, is a kinetic sculpture that includes a mural designed by artist Glenn Wolff and painted on a 36-foot turbine blade by students from Grand Rapids City High School. It is located in front of the Steelcase Library on Fulton Street. Additional sessions Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to noon, through October 9.

Students from Black River Public School in Holland worked with Dutch artist Cyril Lixenberg to design and create a series of six steel sculptures entered in the ArtPrize competition by Black River art teacher Jamie Roggenbuck. Black River is a charter school authorized by Grand Valley.

For more information on these and other ArtPrize artists and events at the Grand Valley State University Exhibition Center, visit www.gvsu.edu/artgallery.