ArtPrize 2014 kicks off with Laker Marching Band, GVSU Dance Company and WGVU/PBS Nerd Walk

The Grand Valley State University Laker Marching Band, GVSU Dance Company and WGVU will kick-off ArtPrize 2014 on Wednesday, September 24, at 6:30 p.m. in Rosa Parks Circle, located in downtown Grand Rapids.

Joined by President Thomas J. Haas and Louie the Laker, the festivities will begin with an evening of music, a flash mob performed by the GVSU Dance Company and an opening address by Christian Gaines, ArtPrize executive director.

Following their Rosa Parks Circle performances, the marching band, dancers and WGVU/PBS Nerd Walk will proceed in cadence through downtown and across the Blue Pedestrian Bridge to the L.V. Eberhard Center on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

The WGVU/PBS Nerd Walk, new to ArtPrize this year, encourages participants to sport their horn-rimmed glasses, grab their wands, tie their capes and march the streets of downtown Grand Rapids in a celebration of individuality.

Grand Valley’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus is once again an ArtPrize venue — this year hosting two exhibits, one of which is a collaboration between Grand Valley and the University of Michigan.

River Tattoo
Crafted by Jim Cogswell, University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design professor, River Tattoo is an 85-foot piece celebrating the Grand River and the Blue Bridge crossing over it. It was crafted from thousands of pieces of adhesive vinyl applied directly to glass along the main floor of the Eberhard Center. The vinyl shapes are based on ink drawings of animal-like forms, collages made from adhesive shelf paper and digitally multiplied photographs of ordinary houseplants. To vote for River Tattoo, use the voting code: 56874.

Bard to Go: Lights, Camera, Action!
Grand Valley’s second exhibit features a collage of Shakespearean scenes based on universal themes such as love, magic and friendship. Bard to Go: Lights, Camera, Action! features six Grand Valley student actors who tour West Michigan secondary schools in the late fall each year as part of the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival. This all-new production follows William Shakespeare on an adventure to modern-day Hollywood where movie studio producers work to convince him to update his plays for modern-day audiences. Bard to Go: Lights, Camera, Action! will perform individual acts from their full play during select times on September 27 and 28 in front of the Eberhard Center. To vote for Bard to Go, use the voting code: 57604.

Many Grand Valley faculty and students, both past and present, have a presence during ArtPrize as well.

Animation Collaboration
Animation Collaboration — an animated video celebrating children’s animation around the world — will be shown on the main level of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art (UICA) gallery. The video features a compilation of animation work completed in various workshops by local high school students as well as international youth groups. The piece was created by Deanna Morse, Grand Valley emerita professor of film and video; Gretchen Vinnedge, Community Media Center (CMC) education director; Suzanne Zack, Grand Valley film and video professor; Maggie Annerino, Grand Valley media studies professor; Lynn McKeown, CMC education project coordinator, and a number of Grand Valley students. To vote for Animation Collaboration, use the voting code: 56390.

Light Sculptures
Created by Grand Valley alumni Paul Warfield, ’13, and Richelle Nuney, ’14, the works that comprise Light Sculptures use the surrounding environment, light and wood to alter the viewers’ perceptions of the surrounding space. Light Sculptures can be seen at Canal Street Park in Grand Rapids. To vote for Light Sculptures, use the voting code: 56401.

Quilt Mountain
Quilt Mountain is a collaborative participatory exhibition of textiles, performances and workshops presented by local artists, including Grand Valley alumna Kate Garman, ’13. The exhibit explores the traditions of quilting, macramé and needlework. Quilt Mountain can be visited at Have Company in Grand Rapids. To vote for Quilt Mountain, use the voting code: 56442.

respirador (breather)
SiTE:LAB @ The Morton becomes a living canvas in this original, site-specific work created by Amy Wilson, Dance in the Annex (DITA) artistic director and Grand Valley professor of dance. Visitors experience the work as if looking through windows into the past as artists can be seen performing through three planes of space within the venue. DITA is a Grand Rapids modern dance collective that received a top five ArtPrize nomination in the time-based category during ArtPrize 2013. To vote for respirador (breather), use the voting code: 57056.

For more information about ArtPrize 2014, visit www.artprize.org.