Art Prize

For those who live under a rock, perhaps you haven't heard about the $250,000 Art Prize in Grand Rapids, 9/23 - 10/10. I wanted to tour the various art works, but wasn't quite sure when I'd make it down town. Brian talked me into heading out there with him today since he needed to do some PR work. We raced out of the house by 9:30 to get there (and yes, when you have a baby, 9:30 is racing). I barely ate breakfast, which later came to be a colossal mistake.

While Brian worked, Charlotte and I strolled about town. We found this maze of recyclable plastics.


Aah, just like home. A beautiful portrait of a windmill made out of black dots.


We hung around waiting for this guy to jump off of his 75' foot easel, but apparently he "wasn't granted permission by the city." Also known as, "I chickened out."


Apparently the Lochness Monster wanted to check out the art too.


Charlotte and I held our very own tea party on this massive table and chairs.






Charlotte got to hang with Kaomi Getz, formerly of Michigan Radio. She thought Charlotte should be a model, but maybe she changed her mind after she saw her in this photo.


Then we waited amidst the crowds for the release of the 100,000 paper airplanes from 5 rooftops (done by the same artist who orchestrated the Pillow Fight and Zombie Walk). It was as though we were all watching a space ship land. The crowd was at a standstill. The airplane release was choreographed with an orchestra playing some Scandinavian song, apparently one of the artist's favorites. The planes were tossed out in clumps from large sheets. It was a nice effect, but many just fell quickly to the ground. If he could've figured out a way to slowly sprinkle them to the streets, I would've enjoyed it much more.



Once the demonstration ended, it was so difficult to get out of the pack. Then we failed over and over trying to find somewhere to eat. Anyone who knows me well enough knows I can get awfully irritable if I don't get to eat on schedule. Finally we just ended up getting in the car and trying to get out of dodge so that we could find food with less than a 30 minute wait. Amidst all of the shuffle, Charlotte lost one of her shoes. And I'm quite sure she didn't kick it off in a fit of joy.

All in all, I enjoyed the day, exhausting as it was. Lesson learned: If Brian ever tries to take me on a last minute day trip, pack a lot of snacks. He doesn't plan for such trivial things as eating.