Starting on Sept. 15, guests and visitors can see three ArtPrize entries at the Paul Collins Art Gallery on the fourth floor of Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall at Grand Rapids Community College. The showcase includes digital animation, pen and ink techniques, and acrylic paintings.
GRCC has been an ArtPrize venue every year since the competition started in 2009.
“We are excited about ArtPrize starting this week and we are looking forward to sharing a quality exhibition with our community,” stated Nick Antonakis, head of the art department at GRCC. “Every year the artworks we have exhibited have been high quality, professional productions that our visitors have enjoyed on multiple levels. Once again we are hosting six artists in the gallery and their artworks will give our community the chance to appreciate artistic skill and the ideas that these works portray.”
The first entry is “Inexcusable,” a pen-and-ink drawing by Ginger Creasy in collaboration with Jessica Newell. This piece explores the complexity of nature.
“I am collaborating with one of my art students with the thought of creation and its wonderful intricacies from the largest mammal, hidden in the designs of the ocean, to the smallest of creation, and the complicating designs of organisms,” wrote Creasy, of Twin Lake, Michigan, in her artist’s statement. “‘Inexcusable’ is what we think about when we see the complicating designs of what seems simple. Nothing in nature is simple.”
Creasy will be entering ArtPrize for her 11th year and says there is a story behind everything she puts into a piece.
The second entry is “Derivations of a Gothic Arch Part 2,” a digital animation by Morehead State University instructor Gary Mesa-Gaido.
This digital animation moves sounds through multiple iterations of a gothic arch being pushed and pulled in different directions and shapes. The animation lasts for around six minutes.
Mesa-Gaido has been mastering his craft for over 30 years, and his work has been displayed in international, national, regional and state-juried and invitational exhibits. His art can be viewed at venues such as Abraham Lubelski Gallery in New York, the Museo ItaloAmericano in San Francisco, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland.
The final entry is an acrylic canvas piece called “Landscapes in my mind’s eye” created by Seongbae Cho, an artist from Seoul, South Korea. A summer trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks inspired Cho to create this piece. The painting’s title was inspired by the words of Ansel Adams, an acclaimed landscape photographer.
Cho has had five solo exhibitions since 2010 and has participated in group shows throughout South Korea. He has also showcased his digital paintings at the Muskegon Museum of Art and ArtPrize back in 2021.
The Collins Art Gallery will be open from 1-8 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. These three entries will be on display until Oct 2.
