I attended the announcement this morning for LaughFest, a major event benefiting Gilda's Club Grand Rapids.  LaughFest is a 10-day festival of laughter that will run from March 10 to March 20, 2011.   It will feature national talent (including, Bill Cosby, Betty White, Mike Birbiglia, and Kathleen Madigan), film, musicians (Dan Zane and friends), improv, laughter yoga, guest authors, and community events.  Like ArtPrize, there will be a number of venues where events will occur.  So far the first 20 venues have been secured, and they are looking for many more.  

On Thursday, October 7, ArtPrize announced the winner of the popular vote in the 2010 competition. The $250,000 first prize went to Grand Rapids artist Chris LaPorte. LaPorte teaches art at Aquinas College. The winning work, "Cavalry, American Officers, 1921" is a photorealistic pencil drawing of a gathering of World War I officers.  It took LaPorte over 800 hours to complete the work, which measures 29 feet by 8 feet.

Here are my photos of the winning work.

Here is a 90-second interview of Chris LaPorte.

The Today show ran a feature story on ArtPrize and Grand Rapids this morning. Nice story about an extraordinary event. Here is the clip.

A brief video of photos I took as Jeff Zimmerman completed his ArtPrize entry for 2010.

<p>Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.</p>

Like last year, ArtPrize has divided the central core of the city into 5 neighborhoods: Westside, City Center, Monroe North, Heartside and Hillside. ArtPrize will hold "Neighborhood Days" and "Neighborhood Parties," to encourage people to view each of the neighborhoods.  This is a great idea. Last year, many people failed to get out of downtown to see some of the great art that was on display. For information on the neighborhoods, visit the ArtPrize site by clicking here. Here is a map showing the boundaries of the neighborhoods in the city's core:

In addition, this year, ArtPrize has established the Fredrik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park as a venue and an Exhibition Center. Each Exhibition Center will exhibit over 25 artists selected by a curator from a regional cultural institution. There are 7 Exhibition Centers, including:

• Grand Rapids Art Museum
• Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts
• Diocese of Grand Rapids' Cathedral Square
• Grand Rapids Public Museum
• Women's City Club
• Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
• GVSU Outdoor Art & Sculpture Exhibition Center

ArtPrize, a one-of-a-kind art competition that started in Grand Rapids in 2009, is back again, bigger and better.  Over 1700 artists will display their work at over 190 venues in and around Grand Rapids from September 22 to October 10.  Over $450,000 in prizes will be awarded by a vote of the people, including a grand prize of $250,000.  It is not about the money, though.  Only 10 will finish in the money.  It is about art engaging the community.  It is an extraordinary event, the brainchild of Rick DeVos. It is generously supported by the Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation.

Here are some of my photos of ArtPrize 2010.  Keep coming back.  This portfolio will grow over the next three weeks.

My photos are posted here on Flickr.  You can also view photos from ArtPrize 2009 by clicking here.

The official ArtPrize site is www.artprize.org.

One of the ArtPrize 2010 entries that I am eagerly anticipating is Luke Jerram's "Play Me I'm Yours."  I have blogged about this exhibit before (click here).  Jerram places pianos around a city. Each piano is labeled, "Play Me I'm Yours."  He has done this in London, Sidney, Sao Paulo, New York City, among others and now he's bringing his pianos to Grand Rapids 

The results elsewhere have been fantastic fun!  Here's just one example.

The ArtPrize organization says "Art = Community."  "Art is the focus of the competition, but the main event is community." Well, "Play Me I'm Yours" will give the community a chance to engage art and each other.  I can't wait.

Ever since 1975, when I first saw Alexander Calder's mobile commissioned for the new wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., I have loved his work.  Little did I know then that I would end up living in a city whose commitment to public art would be symbolized by a Calder stabile.

Recently, I was contacted by Rick Bissell, an artist from Chardon, Ohio.  Rick works in the Calder style and creates beautiful mobiles and stabiles.  Rick found my photos of Calder's work in Grand Rapids on my Flickr page and sent me an email  He was kind enough to post one of my photos that I call "Calder Reflections" to his blog. (Here's the photo)

Let me return the favor by encouraging you to visit Rick's blog, http://the-mobile-factory.blogspot.com/, and his business page, http://www.the-mobile-factory.com/. Rick's work will filled with the mirth of the Calder style.

Here are some examples of Rick's work from his site on Flickr:

Rob Bliss is amazing. Bliss, who is a college student at Grand Rapids Community College, has brought remarkable events to Grand Rapids, including the Zombie Walk, the Chalk Flood, and the paper airplane (actually 100,000 paper airplanes) launch. Now he has raised money to build the longest inflatable waterslide in the world. And this weekend, Grand Rapids tried it out.

Set up on the Lyon Street hill, which runs through the campus of Grand Rapids Community College, the waterslide attracted over ten thousandriders who, in some cases, waited for over 2 hours to ride the slide. These pictures were taken around 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and the line already stretched a long way.