Art Prize -- October 2009

Last year, Grand Rapids held its first Art Prize competition, which effectively turned the city into an art gallery of sorts. See the following site for next year's Art Prize competition: http://www.artprize.org/home. It was actually really cool and attracted thousands to the downtown area. Mike and I took the Heritage Hill tour, which is when various homeowners living in the historic district open their homes to visitors. Here's information for next year's tour: http://www.heritagehillweb.org/tours.htm. What's neat is that you can go on the tour every year, as you will see some different houses. I hadn't gone on it for several years, and Mike had never gone, so we picked this year to do it, especially since we could make a day of seeing historic houses as well as art.
After seeing various houses, we stopped at the Voigt House (http://www.grmuseum.org/voigt_house) for some German food. It was a cold and rainy day, so we were in definite need of some hot, mould wine (Glühwein).

These flowers were one of the Art Prize exhibits.

Nessie was one of the most popular exhibits. I think she's in the pond outside the John Ball Park Zoo.

If I remember correctly, this sculpture was made by melting plastic toy soldiers together.

Here's a close-up.

This one on the right was interesting because it was made entirely of cake frosting. Once you walked in this room, you could smell it, and it was a pleasant, homey smell. I don't think we saw many of the winners up close, and you can view them at the Art Prize website.

Grand Rapids Public Library

I joined the Grand Rapids Urban Explorers Meetup, and my first outing with them was a behind-the-scenes tour of the downtown public library. First of all, I love libraries, and this one is architecturally beautiful. Construction began in 1902, and two years later, the Ryerson Public Library was opened. An extension was built in 1967, and in 2003, restoration to connect the older and newer parts of the building was completed.

This is the main entrance, which was was part of the recent restoration.

Marble door frame in the 1904 part of the building.

Ceiling in one of the reading rooms in the 1904 part of the building.

Upstairs view of the 1967 extension.

Cool light fixture.

This clock is on the wall behind the cool light fixture.

Martin A. Ryerson, who completely financed the 1904 opening of the library, was a native of Grand Rapids and the grandson of a founding member of the Grand Rapids community. He also helped to establish the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago.

Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bud Visit Grand Rapids!

Early in September, my aunt and uncle came to visit me in Florida and were my first relatives to visit me since I moved into the house. We had a great visit. I'm posting here a couple of photos and am waiting for Aunt Claudia to send me the rest. I'm hoping that this post might serve as a little reminder for her. :-) Her son (my cousin) just got married recently, so she's been busy with guests and all.

Mike was able to meet them, as he came to Grand Rapids briefly after visiting his parents in Arizona.

Aunt Claudia sent me the teapot for my birthday, not knowing that I already had the butterfly in a similar style.

Jason's Visit from Australia

My friend, Jason, whom I know from graduate school, came to visit me early in September for a weekend. He was in the middle of trips, and Grand Rapids was on the way. Unfortunately, it rained all weekend long, so I wasn't very keen to drag my camera out. We had some nice food at a restaurant called Naya, where fusion food and tapas are a hit. It was a great weekend to visit with Jason. Plus, he got to see my housie and my kitties!