Official Exhibition, Showcase venues offer curated themes, longer hours, amenities

Every year ArtPrize works with local museums and institutions to facilitate the art competition. Exhibition Centers showcase a large concentration of ArtPrize entries, and are also places where visitors can vote, pick up event guides, buy ArtPrize gear and have access to public transportation and restrooms. Showcase venues highlight curated art installations in distinctive settings.

Exhibition Centers include:

Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has a group exhibition, “Highly Recommended: Emerging Sculptors,” featuring 16 artists.

“We began our curatorial process by having conversations with sculptors represented in our permanent collection, who recommended emerging talent across the international scene. This exhibition creates a collaborative relationship between established artists in the Meijer Gardens permanent collection and a new generation of sculptors. A wide variety of materials ranging from bronze and steel to the innovative use of neon and copper wire will be showcased. This is an exhibition that really speaks to the diversity and energy of Contemporary sculpture,” says Joseph Becherer, chief curator and vice president of exhibitions and collections at Meijer Gardens.

Special programming includes Curator’s Choice, a discussion about the works in “Highly Recommended: Emerging Sculptors, let by Laurene Grunwald; director of sculpture, exhibitions and installations and Heidi Holst, curator of arts. It will be held Friday, September 25, at 12 p.m.

Kendall College of Art and Design has a selectively-curated thematic exhibition for 2014, "I Am: Money Matters." This starts their year-long exhibition season of shows related to the larger theme of identity. "I Am: Money Matters" will reflect on themes of socioeconomics, value, currency and consumerism as they relate to identity. Kendall is hosting a series of educational programs for children K-5th grade and 6th-12th grades. They are also facilitating family tours during ArtPrize. This exhibit already opened on August 21, so the public can attend right away to beat the crowds.

Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM)'s exhibit is called "[DIS]Comfort Zones."

"This year we have 19 artists, so that's a little fewer than previous years," says Dana Friis-Hanson, Director and CEO of the GRAM. "However we're using more space in the building. We're doing a number of larger, more complex pieces as you'll see, and a variety of different media. It grew out of conversations with a group of staff people with the idea of maybe going back to the question of 'what is art?' and what does an artist do?' We realized that the best art and artists move the artist out of their comfort zone to do something different. And then by extension they do that with the viewer or the audience member. They bring them to a heightened state of awareness. And they do it with skill, with craft, with imagination. And so we think that we've got a great selection of works that touch up on a variety of different themes...topics such as war, religion, our bodies, our relationships with our families, with our partners, with our communities, with our food.”

The GRAM will host Family Days on Saturdays and Sundays during ArtPrize, where families can make art together. Self-guided and docent tours are also available for purchase during ArtPrize. Members at the GRAM have access to early member hours to view art before the crowd, a private member entrance, and access to the member terrace. Members may also share these benefits with up to four guests during ArtPrize.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, host of five of last year’s Top 10 winners, will again showcase as many artists as they can fit in.

“The public came out last year and supported so many of the artists that we had here. We have 25 artists this year and are hoping to duplicate that success. All of our exhibits, including the permanent ones, are free during ArtPrize. We are very happy with the throngs of people that come here and the staff loves it. We’re already a beehive of activity and just wish we had more space for all the great art,” says James Kratsas, Deputy Director of the museum.

Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts has chosen an exhibition theme of "Collaboration."  It focuses on creating new connections, reactions and interactions through themes of community, identity, learning and nature. It features 20 entries and is already on display. The exhibit runs past ArtPrize to October 30. The UICA will also host members-only hours Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.  to 12 p.m..

Showcase Venues include:

The Grand Rapids Public Museum will be hosting ArtPrize artists outside on its grounds again this year. There are 15 entries to see along the banks of the Grand River. The museum will be open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily (Mon-Sun) during ArtPrize (Sept. 24 – October 12, 2014) with half off general admission rates. Food carts will be placed around the lawns outside for visitors.

The Women’s City Club is a private club set in the historic two-story Italianate Villa home known as the Sweet House. Visitors will be able to enjoy the historic architecture of the home and view the collection of art in a modern gallery space. The Women’s Club will also be selling other works of their selected artists in a Gallery Shop to members and the public.

St. Cecilia Music Center is the music hub during ArtPrize. It will have a listening station showcasing musical ArtPrize entries in the historic home. St. Cecilia will also host live performances outside and in their President’s Room daily during the first 10 days of ArtPrize. St. Cecilia Music Center itself gives out $10, 000 in prize monies to five musical genres based on popular vote. Genres are pop/electronic; rock/blues; classical; jazz and folk/country. It will also feature visual art in the Terryberry Gallery.

Cathedral Square is in the Heartside Neighborhood just south of the city center.  It will exhibit art both inside and outside in its urban gardens right next to the 125-year old Cathedral of Saint Andrew. The theme for ArtPrize at Cathedral Square 2014 is “HeARTbeat: The Pulse of Art & Life."

“The exhibition will focus on works that employ rhythm both as a formal compositional device and as subject matter. We walk, talk, sing, tap our feet and clap our hands, surrendering to the rhythms of life just as life moves through us; we may also choose to move to our own cadence. Our heartbeat is the arbiter and gentle reminder of our rhythmic involvement in all of life. We are interested in...art that celebrates the rhythms of community, nature and consciousness,” according to their ArtPrize profile page.

Exhibition Centers and Showcase Venues are open to the public Monday through Saturday from noon to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. All other venues are open, at minimum, Monday through Thursday 5-8 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Venue hours may expand beyond that; check the ArtPrize venue listing specifics for details.