GRAND RAPIDS—Eight local artists are presenting work in Grand Rapids’ eighth annual ArtPrize competition and voting begins this week.
They are among the 1,453 artist entries from 44 countries and 40 U.S. states throughout town. All will compete for a combination of public vote and juried awards totaling $500,000.
The 19-day exhibition has drawn more than 400,000 visitors in each of the last three years and nearly 2 million visitors since 2009.
The top public vote-getter in each of four categories—2-D, 3-D, Time-Based or Installation—wins $12,500; a $200,000 public vote grand prize will go to the artist who earns the most votes overall.
On the juried side of the event, a juror in each category will award $12,500 to one piece. The jurors will then select four more from their categories and a three-person grand prize jury will determine who receives the $200,000 juried grand prize.
The event also gives out more than $270,000 in grants, everything from artist seed grants to a fellowship for emerging curators.
Public voting is done at www.artprize.org or through a mobile app during two rounds. The first begins Wednesday, Sept. 21, at noon and runs through 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1. The top 20 vote-getters go to Round 2; voting for that begins Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. and runs through Oct. 6 at 11:59 p.m.
Winners are then announced at the awards ceremony Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. The exhibition closes Oct. 9.
Local artists in this year’s ArtPrize include:
Otsego: Darl Gilliland, John Jaeger, Jessica Boyett, Julie Baptiste and Jerred Baptiste
Plainwell: Roberta Seiss, Andrew J. Woodstock and Dylan Witt
For more details on each artist's exhibit, pick up a copy of the Sept. 19 issue of The Union Enterprise or subscribe to the e-edition.