ArtPrize kicks off with GVSU Marching Band and Dance Ensemble

The Laker Marching Band will perform Wednesday, September 18, at 6:30 p.m., in Rosa Parks Circle, in Grand Rapids, to celebrate opening day of ArtPrize 2013. In addition, a performance organized by dance professor Carrie Morris will feature the freshmen members of the Grand Valley Dance Ensemble.

President Thomas J. Haas will direct the first song at Rosa Park Circle, followed by additional songs, under the direction of John Martin. Then the band, along with Louie the Laker, will march in cadence through downtown and proceed across the Blue Pedestrian Bridge to the Eberhard Center where they will reassemble to play one last time.

Grand Valley’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus is once again an ArtPrize venue, this year hosting six exhibits:

Poetry and Sculpture: A Meditative Space
A collaborative effort of students and faculty mentors Norwood Viviano, professor of Art & Design, and Patricia Clark, professor and chair of the Department of Writing. A reading of their haiku poems is planned for September 20, from 6-7:30 p.m. in Eberhard Center room 203.

Reframing Disabilities
This multimedia series of five frames, will engage viewers in the various sensory, mobility, and communication experiences of individuals with disabilities. The artists are a group of education students representing Grand Valley’s College of Education, under the direction of Julie Feyen.

Sound Print
Entry by students from Black River Public School, a Grand Valley Charter School in Holland, with art instructor Katie Chester, artist Natalie Thompson, and Grand Valley Art & Design professor David Keister. The 2-D silk screen print is designed around the concept of “Synesthesia,” which represents speeches.

Trial by Tires
By students from Excel Charter Academy, a Grand Valley Charter School in Grand Rapids, with art instructor Mary Eckert and artist Elaine Dalcher, Grand Valley alumna ‘74. The 6-panel relief sculpture of mixed media includes recycled materials and was inspired by the students’ study of the Heidelberg Project in Detroit.

Whispering Poetry
By Third Grade students at William C. Abney Academy, a Grand Valley Charter School in Grand Rapids, with art instructor Nicole Fritsch. Whispering Poetry harkens back to the French renaissance tradition, souffleurs du poeme. Reading a poem through a whisper tube affords the reader and listener to have an intimate poetry experience even on a busy city street.

graphic poetry
By students from University Prep Science + Math Art Club, from a Grand Valley Charter School in Detroit, with advisor Vera Smith and artist Marcia Perry.  

For more information, call (616) 331-2563, or visit www.gvsu.edu/artgallery.