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Opinion

 

Not just an eyeful - ArtPrize finalists that actually encourage meditation

Submitted 10-04-2010 under OPINION

"To see or not to see. That's the question."— Karl Gude, Michigan State University, via Twitter In the midst of all the hubbub and hurly burly of ArtPrize, it's easy to lose the art. The social experiment part of the event seems like a success, but...

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You've Got to See This! How We Look at Art

Submitted 10-04-2010 under OPINION

So what does it look like when we talk about art? If it’s just personal, the conversation dwindles into a three- or four-syllable declaration. That’s a pretty thin answer to 1,713 artists who have labored at their own expense to create, dismantle,...

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Michael Vlatkovich Trio in Grand Rapids

Submitted 10-04-2010 under OPINION

Jazz trombonist, composer and arranger, Michael Vlatkovich brought his 3 piece band to Grand Rapids on Saturday, October 2 for an intimate concert hosted by Hugo Claudin of Mexicains Sans Frontieres. The band was also in Michigan for the...

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Hey?!?! Did anyone else notice the elephant on the top of that building?

Submitted 10-03-2010 under OPINION

Social commentary on art has been taken to a new level during ArtPrize, literally. The top of the new Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts building was being used to make statements designed to further the dialog about art, though it seems that not...

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"Movie Art": Crafting the One-Liner ArtPrize Contender

Submitted 10-02-2010 under OPINION

On Wednesday night at the Hub (155 N. Division), Brett Colley – an artist and professor at GVSU – ran a panel on the international art (all 52 pieces of it) in Art Prize, and the complications of choosing an “international award” for the competition...

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"So you want to be an art critic" or "How to talk about art and impress people"

Submitted 10-01-2010 under OPINION

In case you haven’t noticed, ArtPrize is in full swing. It is the largest open international art competition in the world, essentially turning the city of Grand Rapids into an art gallery. With over 1,700 works of art on display, you can hardly...

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A Defense of Bad Art: For the Love of Schlock

Submitted 09-29-2010 under OPINION

This is not an argument that comes easy for me, particularly given the current state of the top 25, but someone should make it. I don’t particularly like bad art, but it deserves a place at the table. And because we live in a democratic society,...

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Respectful and Sweet: Critical Questions from the Discussion with Tom Eccles

Submitted 09-29-2010 under OPINION

Last Friday, Sept. 25 at 5:15pm, ArtPrize hosted Tom Eccles in an informal discussion at Grid70, the new innovation lab space owned by Rockford Construction and inhabited by innovators from Meijer, Amway, Wolverine World Wide, and Steelcase. Mr....

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Value of Art

Submitted 09-28-2010 under OPINION

I have been getting flak for being an elitist snob when I talk about the quality of work in ArtPrize. There seems to be some nebulous, unsupported idea that judging art is wrong floating about ArtPrize. Suspending judgement and embracing the idea...

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Observations from Block by Block, a community news summit

Submitted 09-28-2010 under OPINION

From Rapidian staff: Last Thursday, I pinwheeled through the freeways separating our city from that tall bold slugger known as Chicago. It was the first Block by Block summit (BxB), a conference organized by Michele McClellan of the Reynolds...

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