Some of the beautiful collages made during last Sunday's Demo Day — what fun!

It’s taken me a while to update. The week in Grand Rapids for ArtPrize was a blur of activity; splitting time between Peaches events, seeing art and seeing family. Lucky for me — the “seeing art” part went well with the “seeing family” part — many of my siblings were determined to view as much art as they could, during the first week of voting.

Peaches was great! The house itself is a grand old Georgian beauty, and was a fun change from the usual spare gallery style walls. Folks I shared the venue with were a delightful and talented bunch. And the owner of Peaches, Jane Lovett, worked tirelessly to promote her artists and make all the events wonderful.

We had good crowds. I was a little worried about being outside of the downtown loop, but every day, folks were waiting at the doors to get in the place before it opened.  I saw old friends and met a lot of new.

The show is still up, so if you find yourself in Grand Rapids, Mich, stop by!

Peaches installation 1

Peaches installation 2

Peaches installation 3

Peaches installation 4

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Constructed Drwaing 00401 © Heidi Van Weiren

One of the great pleasures of my gig at the New York Times Local, is having a chance to meet all sorts of interesting artists and art professionals. Heidi Van Weiren is no exception.

Heidi’s work has been on my radar for a while; I’ve been drawn to her dreamy landscapes since first seeing them at Margaret Thatcher Projects in Chelsea a few years back. I imediately felt a kinship with her use of glue as a medium (the very first paintings in my Nowhere Here -2006 series were composed using glue as the layering medium).

Heidi — a native to western Michigan as well — will be joining me and over 1200 other artists in Grand Rapids, Mich. later this month, as we all take part in this very interesting experiment that is ArtPrize. I thought it would be interesting to look at what it takes to break into the New York art market as an outsider.

Read what she has to say…

Badlands 00701 © Heidi Van Weiren

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The man with the plan! Courtesy of Brian Kelly

I was delighted to interview Rick Devos this week, for my usual West of Chelsea feature on The New York Times Local. He’s the brainchild (and bucks) behind ArtPrize.

It’s not uncommon for big money to support art — but what he’s got going really does shake things up. You go Rick!

Check out the interview here!

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It’s all so new, and I didn’t quite understand it myself. But, I found these very helpful instructions on the ArtPrize web site, and thought I’d share them with you:

Anyone 16 years of age or older who registers in person at the ArtPrize event can vote. You cannot vote without registering at the event. There will be no charge for voter registration.

How to register

Attendees will be required to present a valid government issued ID in person at a registration station
ID can be drivers license, other state ID or passport
Pre-register on artprize.org (coming Sept 14) and save time activating your voter status at the event
There will be voter registration stations throughout the city September 23-October 7

Rules

Week 1 Voting – All Artists
Voting begins 6:00pm, September 23, 2009
You can vote on more than one work
You cannot vote more than once for the same work
Live results can be viewed online
Week 1 voting ends 11:59pm, September 30
Top 10 finalists will be announced evening, October 1
Week 2 Voting – Top 10, ONE vote
Voting begins after announcement of the Top 10, October 1
You have only ONE vote during Week 2
You may only vote among the Top 10
You may change your vote until voting ends
Results are concealed during Week 2
Week 2 voting ends 11:59pm, October 7
Winners will be announced at a gala event October 8

How to vote

Voting is entirely electronic (Instructions coming soon)
Vote online at artprize.org
Vote by text message (SMS) from your mobile phone
Vote by iPhone app
Note: Venues are allowed make Internet access and/or computers available for visitors to vote online
Vote by mobile browser

See you at the Gala!

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Watch Sarah Weber and Jane Lovett talk about ArtPrize

Sarah Weber is one of the artists I’ll be exhibiting with at Peaches, for the ArtPrize event. I was delighted when she sent me this clip from FOX News featuring her and the owner of Peaches, Jane Lovett! You go girls!

Jane Lovett and Peaches!

I planned to highlight a few of the artists who’ll be showing their work at some of the venues; and I thought this was the perfect time to start with one of my picks: Sarah Weber.

Sarah’s work “celebrate(s) femininity and style through abstract and representational characteristics.” I couldn’t find a web site for her, but here’s a great YouTube video, where she talks about her work.

I’m looking forward to meeting Sarah, and seeing her beautiful work in person!

Update: Sarah just sent these images over — of the paintings she’s working on for ArtPrize. Thanks for the peek into your studio, Sarah!

© Sarah Weber

Sarah Weber's work in progress!

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Going to Grand Rapids last week got me even more excited about ArtPrize.

I had a chance to visit with Jane Lovett the owner of Peaches Bed and Breakfast, where I’ll be showing “just as many paintings as I can tastefully fit” into her lovely dining room. It was good to see the space; take some measurements and shoot some photos of the room. Great to meet Jane, too. She’s very enthusiastic about the event and I feel confident she’ll do all she can to help make the event a success. I’ll be sharing “Peaches” with eight other artists (more on this in the next ArtPrize post).

It’s hard to be back in New Jersey — away from where it’s all happening. So I’ve been searching the internet to keep up to date on news and to find out if any events are planned yet. I really want to connect with many of the artists that will be there for the event and to reconnect with the city I use to call home. (Winning the prize would be swell, too.)

I found this little clip on YouTube. I thought it was a great explanation of ArtPrize and it also introduced me to Carol Coletta — she rocks! She’s the president and CEO of CEOs for Cities and host and producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show Smart City. I haven’t heard the show, but the web site describes it as “an in-depth look at urban life, the people, places, ideas and trends shaping cities”.

I like cities. I like urban development. I like Carol Coletta.

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Never thought I'd be the same article with Rick DeVos!

After moving from my hometown of Grand Rapids Mich., I’ve finally made it to the front page of the Grand Rapids Press! (OK, OK it’s really the front page of the Entertainment Section — but gosh, still exciting.)

I spoke with Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk — Arts Writer at the Press — last week, about ArtPrize, my experience with securing a venue, and my view from the outside, looking in.

It’s a fun article — Mr. Kaczmarczyk likens the whole affair with securing a date for the prom — which makes me start worrying … what will I wear!

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The colors and detail in Snow White Disney's first full length animated feature are still enough to make me sing!

For any of you who missed my last post; Lisa Pressman asked me to write about my top ten influences. You can see the entire list at her blog, Lisa Pressman Art Blog. I like the exercise so much I decided to explore each one of them as a separate post.

Number one on my list is Walt Disney. Here’s what I wrote about him in Lisa’s blog:

1. Walt Disney- Love him or hate him, it’s hard to deny his influence on our culture today. Saturday matinees at the local theater in Grand Rapids allowed me my first glimpses into the world of art. While the action was playing out in the foreground, I would find myself entranced by the captivating world created by the studio’s background artists.

I imagine that for many children like myself growing up, animated films are their main exposure to visual art. Though I always loved to paint and draw and make things, I never set foot into a real art museum until I was in college.

Eyvind Earle spins Disney Magic in his backgrounds for Sleeping Beauty

I admit that I am one that enjoys Disney stuff. (We’re easy to spot: say the word “Disney” and you either get eyes as big as Bambi’s or a shutter.) We’ve taken our lucky children to Disney theme parks many times in their short lives.

But, as much as I like all the trimmings, by far the biggest influence on my art has been the amazing backgrounds in his early films. I learned a lot about painting by looking at these lush environments, things that I may have learned from from the masters in museums, but didn’t. Disney is accessible.

Disney’s talented team of background painters would set a stage where anything could happen. A world that invites you to come in and create your own story.

It’s not that Disney created a world of fantasy for me, but that he planted the seeds, that I could create that kind of place for myself.

Biotic Fizz � Nancy Tobin

(I was delighted to come across a blog by Rob Richards called Animation Backgrounds. Rob has an amazing collection of background art, from Snow White to Lilo and Stitch. It’s cool to be able to separate the action of the figures from these rich scenes.)

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