Wednesday, October 12, 2016

ArtPrize

Last Saturday, we went up to Grand Rapids with our friends for our annual trek around the city to see lots of art work from various artists.  There were paintings, sculptures, video, and everything in between in all forms of mixed media.  It's amazing how creative some people are and it's incredible see the workmanship that goes into creating a piece that dazzles the eye and mind.  I appreciate many forms of art and enjoy pieces that speak to me.  I admire the creative process and opinions expressed by all. This year's top public prize vote winner of $200,000 went to Wounded Warrior Dogs.  There were six wood carvings of military dogs, each representing a different war and each with a wound depicting the injury their military companion received in that war.  It was incredible!!!!!! I'm happy to see that this was the top winner. We all had to agree that this year's ArtPrize left us all feeling disappointed though.  The outdoor venues that display artwork were lackluster and much of the pieces were located at inside venues that unfortunately created shoulder-to-shoulder bumping just to walk a few feet.  In all of our previous years attending ArtPrize, there were more pieces outside and scattered around the city so we could stroll around the city and take in lots of other sights too.  This year seemed to feature more artwork in fewer venues...which meant longer lines and much larger crowds in smaller spaces.  Grand Rapids is a lovely city with lots of interesting things to see and do!!



Friday, October 7, 2016

The Shed

There's definitely no shortage of projects to keep us busy around here!  Over the summer, we cleaned and repainted the shed and hardware.  I had Matt cut out this "A" for me on some old plywood and I painted it to add some flair to the shed.  I threw in some repainted flower pots and even the shed now looks pretty!  We still have to get new pavers and add rocks to replace the sad grass (weeds?), but for now, this shed isn't the sad, dirty mess it once was!!