KCAD Community Creating Numerous Opportunities for Creative Engagement During ArtPrize 10

Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) will have no shortage of opportunities to connect to creativity and education through its ArtPrize 10 initiatives.

Internships ArtPrize 10 is also the first iteration of the event to feature the ArtPrize Internship Program, created in collaboration with KCAD in April of 2018. Leading up to and through ArtPrize 10, college students from West Michigan have been given the opportunity to learn important leadership skills and gain professional experience within creative industries.

The inaugural cohort of 12 interns—with positions focused on photography/videography, social media, exhibitions, design, visitor and volunteer engagement, development, education, and more—represent KCAD, Cornerstone University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and West Virginia University, and are majoring in everything from museum studies to art history to graphic design. Each intern is working on-site under the direct mentorship of ArtPrize senior staff. As part of the program, all interns will be visiting the Herman Miller Design Yard and Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park for inspiration and education. They’ll also be blogging about their experiences at artprize.org/blog. 

“KCAD is proud to support the ArtPrize Internship Program. The student interns have been not only expanding their professional experience, but helping drive an event that is shaping the cultural landscape of our region and giving rise to important conversations about the value of creativity in our society,” says KCAD President Leslie Bellavance. “KCAD values our ongoing relationship with ArtPrize, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for the importance of paid professional development opportunities for all students in higher education.”

The Sum of Its Parts (Vote Code 68054) For ArtPrize 10, KCAD is featuring artist Jason Peters, whose work explores our intellectual and emotional reactions to the ways in which objects interact with their surrounding environment. The KCAD Sculpture Garden, located outside of the college’s Woodbridge N. Ferris Building (17 Pearl St. NW), will feature Peters’ 24-foot-tall installation piece “The Sum of Its Parts,” (Vote Code: 68054).

Jason Peters' "The Sum of Its Parts" (image courtesy of the artist)

Peters has taken utilitarian plastic buckets and construction scaffolding and given them new life as a conceptual, spatial, and visual exploration of instability and change within seemingly ordered structures. The buckets are stacked within each other to form a dynamic serpentine shape that winds its way through a scaffolding armature, creating a sense of movement through repetitive forms that evoke a fascinating interplay between order and chaos.

“The Sum of Its Parts” also offers viewers different perspectives during the day, when the piece disrupts the clean lines of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building’s classic Beaux-Arts architecture, and at night, when the interior of the buckets will be lit with LED lights that will shift in color over time.

“We’re very excited to activate this public space on KCAD’s campus, giving visitors the opportunity to really interact with Jason’s work from a number of different perspectives,” says KCAD Curator of Exhibitions Michele Bosak. “Jason is an artist who is compelled to transform and transpose our understanding of things, and this piece really shifts our understanding of space by introducing something unexpected in a familiar location.”

“The Sum of Its Parts” will open on September 12 for ArtPrize Preview Week, and will remain on view through October 7, 2018.

Focus on Faculty | Influence Inside the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building, The Fed Galleries @ KCAD will be hosting Focus on Faculty | Influence, an exhibition highlighting the truly remarkable work KCAD faculty contribute to art and design professions. Though not an official ArtPrize entry, the exhibition will nonetheless give viewers a unique window into what shapes KCAD faculty members’ views, what inspires their practice, and what drives them to create.

“We’re showcasing the capacity of art and design to shape the way we view and understand the world by illustrating how the energy KCAD faculty infuse into their personal teaching practices influences students in capacities that extend beyond the classroom,” says Bosak. “That ripple effect continues its outward stretch and precipitates events that impact and connect us all.”

Focus on Faculty | Influence opens on August 28 and runs through October 13, 2018. A reception will be held on September 25 at 5pm. For gallery hours, visit kcad.edu/galleries.

KCAD Spark Park The KCAD Spark Park, a pop-up public greenspace located outside of the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building, will return for ArtPrize 10. This year’s Spark Park will be designed to inspire critical conversations about stormwater management and habitat restoration. Among other features, the park will include a number of plants that support different wildlife habitats. The plants will be provided by the Plaster Creek Stewards, a Calvin College group working alongside local churches and community partners to re-establish and preserve the healthy and natural beauty of the Plaster Creek watershed with native plant species.

KCAD Spark Park during ArtPrize 9

“More than a space to sit and relax, the KCAD Spark Park has always been a forum for engaging the community at-large in important dialogues about the relationship between nature and the built environment,” says Associate Professor and KCAD Sustainability Officer Gayle DeBruyn, who leads organizational efforts for the Spark Park. “We’re looking forward to welcoming ArtPrize visitors to this space, and by extension, into those conversations.”

The Spark Park will be open daily from dawn until dusk, starting September 20.

UICA Outside KCAD’s Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts’ (UICA) 2018 ArtPrize exhibition is an expansion of UICA’s current public art initiative, the Exit Space Project. Featuring five mural projects in three Grand Rapids neighborhoods, UICA Outside draws together diverse artists and Grand Rapids stakeholders to create permanent artworks that are energizing and accessible to all. UICA Outside expands UICA’s impact city-wide and connects visitors to the vibrant neighborhoods that surround downtown Grand Rapids. Neighborhoods that will become official ArtPrize venues include Baxter, Creston, and the Westside communities.

The artists participating in the public art projects include; Alan Compo, Nick Nortier, Colby Roanhorse (KCAD alumnus – ’17, BFA Fashion Studies), the design collective Evas’ve led by Elyse Flynn, and Kimberly Lavon (KCAD alumna – ’08, BFA Printmaking; ’08, BFA Graphic Design). Alan Compo, Pearl St. Bridge tunnel, 288 Pearl St. NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504, Vote Code: 68312 Nick Nortier, Creston Market, 1403 Plainfield Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505, Vote Code: 68603 Colby Roanhorse, Childress & Associates, 1365 Plainfield Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505, Vote Code: 68605 Evas've, LLC led by Elyse Flynn, Stonesthrow, 1428 Plainfield Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505, Vote Code: 68614   Kimberly Lavon, Joe Taylor Park,1038 Bemis St SE Grand Rapids, MI 49506 Vote Code: 68617

UICA is recognized for its cutting edge contemporary art exhibitions year-round and as one of the premier venues during ArtPrize. Past successes include; ArtPrize Best Venue Award nominations and hosting both Public and Juried Award Category finalists and winners. “The Heartside Community Meal” by Seitu Jones, UICA’s 2017 off-site ArtPrize entry, was awarded the $200,000 Juried Grand Prize Award in 2017.

MEGA and Coming Home The galleries and theater at UICA will remain open during ArtPrize official dates (Sep 19 – Oct 7, 2018) and regular admission rates will apply. Guests of the galleries will enjoy UICA’s popular Coming Home exhibition series featuring works by Pat Perry, Emily Najera, Jason Quigno, and Zachary Trebellas, as well as the Michigan Emerging Graduate Artists (MEGA) exhibition in collaboration with the Masters Student Collective, a KCAD graduate student organization. The theater will continue to provide the best in independent films and cinematic programming.

(above): "Grand Rapids Family" by Pat Perry (included in the Coming Home exhibition suite, image courtesy of the artist)

For more information on ArtPrize 10 at KCAD, visit kcad.edu/artprize.