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Local painter to host art sale in support of hunger relief

Feeding America West Michigan
Feeding America West Michigan
3/15/17 10:21am
metro Nonprofit Dispatches

This dispatch was added by one of our Nonprofit Neighbors. It does not represent the editorial voice of The Rapidian or Community Media Center.

Chris Stoffel Overvoorde will donate proceeds from his three-day art sale to Feeding America West Michigan.
Overvoorde, pictured in his studio, has worked in oil, watercolor, drawing, and printmaking.

Overvoorde, pictured in his studio, has worked in oil, watercolor, drawing, and printmaking. /Feeding America West Michigan

Overvoorde draws inspiration from the West Michigan landscape, like this stretch of 84th Street in Byron Center.

Overvoorde draws inspiration from the West Michigan landscape, like this stretch of 84th Street in Byron Center. /Eyekons

A screenshot of Overvoorde's prints, taken from his website.

A screenshot of Overvoorde's prints, taken from his website. /Chris Stoffel Overvoorde

Artist Chris Stoffel Overvoorde is hosting a three-day sale of his work to support local hunger relief, March 30-April 1. A third of the sale’s proceeds will be donated to Feeding America West Michigan.

This sale, hosted at his home and studio in southeast Grand Rapids, is the second time Overvoorde has supported Feeding America West Michigan through the sale of his artwork. In 2015, he donated more than $5,500 in proceeds, some of which was designated to support the partnership between Feeding America West Michigan and his church, Grace Christian Reformed, which operates a food pantry.

An art professor emeritus at Calvin College, Overvoorde was born in the Netherlands in 1934. His media include oil painting, watercolor and printmaking. In 2004, he was the subject of a retrospective at the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

Hunger relief is a fitting cause for Overvoorde. It’s a basic need as elemental as the subjects of his work, which often depicts broad landscapes — particularly prairies and farmland — and the big, cloud-filled skies above. Overvoorde has long drawn inspiration from open spaces in West Michigan and Alberta, Canada, where he goes for several weeks of intensive painting each year.

“The sky has always been important to me as a landscape painter,” Overvoorde says in the artist’s statement on his website. “Light and space play with each other here. Light for me is also symbolic, for it reminds me of God the creator who is still at work in his creation.

“To be able to respond visually is a gift.”

The sale will take place from 3-6 p.m. on Thursday, March 30, and Friday, March 31, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 1. Overvoorde’s home and studio are located at 2317 Delange Drive SE in Grand Rapids. Prices vary by size and medium, but some pieces will be available for as little as $25.

Questions can be directed to [email protected] at Feeding America West Michigan. 

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