ArtPrize 2013: Jessica Vitale's Look at this Land of Opportunity

The concept of showing art to a growing city like Grand Rapids can be daunting, even to someone who has exhibited before, but Jessica Vitale, a Detroit artist new to the ArtPrize crowd decided to jump in.

Although she currently teaches high school Spanish, Vitale recently decided to quit teaching and concentrate on her art-based business, a decision that has been met with criticism by her family and fellow teachers who worry about the security of her future. “Life is too short,” is her response. “If you don't make the leap, you never know.”

The Mitten Brewery on Leonard Street housed Vitale's ArtPrize submission, a mosaic titled “Land of Opportunity.” Spanning two by six feet, the piece was mounted in front of a window of the brewery, immediately viewable to guests at the diner. "Land of Opportunity" features a bridge leading in from the left and a tree toward the lower right, drawing the viewer's gaze to the heart of the city - a city loved by the artist, but fueled by the credit cards giving it color.

“Land of Opportunity” draws on the artist's parent's emigration from the Philippines to chase the American dream, and the price tag they found on this dream when they arrived.

In creating the piece, Vitale first sketched out each detail of the city on a masonite board. Next, she placed shapes and decided how many pieces she would need, as each structure is made of precisely cut credit cards collected from friends. With a keen eye she is able to accurately shape each building, staying true to the actual colors and employing darker shades for shadow and perspective. “I don't think about if it's perfect. Imperfections make it what it is,” she comments.

The credit cards used in her mosaic represent American debt, and the sacrifice made to conform to society to live a certain way. Viewers are invited to question this credit based life. “What if we could cut out debt in our lives? Would we be able to be a self-sustainable society?” Vitale answers her own question: “There will always be a system; even in a bartering system, there would be debt.”

Her eyes light up as she reminisces about a friend who lives “off the grid”, with no running water or electricity. He grows all of his own food, builds his own furniture, uses a kiln, and essentially lives without the system American culture is so dependent upon. However, she admits that “the obstacles [to living self-sustainably] stem right from the issue I had in the first place- the reliance on coin in order to follow your heart's desire.” As a budding entrepreneur, she also recognizes the essential place of electronic media in most modern citizen's lives.

Vitale is modest about her talent; she still doesn't necessarily recognize herself as an artist, despite the admiration of her peers. Prompted about a time she started to regard herself with the title of an “artist” she laughs: “Do I call myself an artist?” Vitale claims that when she isn't in a show for a while, she starts to feel like she's not skilled. When she does exhibit her work, as she has for ArtPrize 2013, she realizes with an awe for the occupation, “Oh, wow. I am an artist.”