GRAND RAPIDS—Sixteen artists from Allegan County are presenting work in Grand Rapids’ ninth annual ArtPrize competition.
They are among the more than 1,000 artists from dozens of countries displaying works of art throughout town. No numbers were released for this year’s number of entries, but last year there were 1,453 entries from 44 countries and 40 U.S. states.
All will compete for a combination of public vote and juried awards totaling more than $500,000.
The 19-day exhibition has drawn more than 400,000 visitors in recent 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 after two rounds of voting.
On the juried side of the event, a juror in each of the four categories 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.
The first round of voting begins Wednesday, Sept. 20, at noon and runs through 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30. The top 20 vote-getters go to Round 2; voting for that begins Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. and runs through Oct. 5 at 11:59 p.m.
Winners are then announced at the awards ceremony Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. The exhibition closes Oct. 8.
Find a list of local artists and samples of of their work, pick up a copy of our Spet. 14 Allegan County News.