ArtPrize Felt Like ArtPrize Again

I know I’m biased. Swift Printing was an ArtPrize venue again this year, and I already love what the event does for Grand Rapids. But I also think it is fair to say there have been years when ArtPrize just did not quite have the same energy.

This year felt different.

There was movement downtown, people carrying maps, families wandering into businesses they may never have visited otherwise, and conversations happening between complete strangers because of something hanging on a wall, sitting on a sidewalk or taking over an unexpected space.

And that is exactly what ArtPrize is supposed to do.

This year’s event featured more than 1,000 entries across 159 venues, the largest number of entries since 2018. Organizers expected around a million visitors, building on nearly 967,000 attendees and an estimated $82.6 million economic impact in 2025.

I give a lot of credit to ArtPrize Executive Director Tyler Loftis and the team behind him. Putting on a citywide event of this scale requires an enormous amount of organization, fundraising and collaboration, and they are doing it with the realities of a nonprofit budget.

Loftis is also a West Michigan native and successful artist who splits his time between Grand Rapids and New York City. At the Opening Celebration, he shared something that stuck with me: growing up, had something like ArtPrize existed, maybe he would have felt a little more like he fit in. Hearing him talk about his own story, thank his parents and then return home with this huge vision for Grand Rapids made his leadership feel personal rather than corporate. His larger goal is to help Grand Rapids embrace an identity as “Art City USA,” and he has repeatedly talked about art as something that should connect people rather than exclude them.

You could feel that philosophy throughout this year’s event.

There were thoughtful event guides, educational materials, special programming and more ways to experience art than simply walking through a traditional gallery. More than 30 venues were on the WestSide, and having the official ArtPrize ClubHouse at 428 Bridge Street made our neighborhood feel like a real part of the center of the action. The ClubHouse served as a hub for visitors, artists, venue managers and volunteers throughout the event.

As someone who spends a lot of time on Bridge Street, it was really fun to see that extra foot traffic and watch people discover businesses and corners of the WestSide they may not otherwise have visited.

And, of course, I had favorites.

One was “MIXED BERRIES” by Judy Whitt, displayed at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. The berries were individually hand-cut from paper, and the detail was incredible. It was one of those pieces where the closer you looked, the more you appreciated the time and patience behind it.

I also loved “There is still a place for you at this table” by AliAna Gutierrez R. The interactive installation invited people to imagine sitting at the Last Supper and consider what they would ask Jesus if they were sitting at the table today. I kept thinking about it long after I walked away. That is one of the things I love about art: sometimes it does not need to give you an answer. It simply needs to make you ask a better question.

Then there was this year’s Public Vote Grand Prize winner, Kristin Pennock’s “Sketchdiet: A Year of Drawing Everything I Ate.” Pennock spent an entire calendar year drawing everything she ate, ultimately creating 216 linear feet of food sketches. What began as a way to become more conscious about food and navigate allergies grew into a visual diary of everyday life, travel, relationships and even grief. The public selected it for the $100,000 grand prize. Ms. Pennock was really kind and even showed me her tiny watercolor tin, about the size of an iPhone, she had in tow all year!

I loved it because it proves something I think ArtPrize gets exactly right: art does not have to begin with some enormous, complicated idea. Sometimes it can start with something as ordinary as lunch.

The event also ended on a pretty spectacular note. At the closing celebration at Acrisure Amphitheater, ArtPrize paired fashion by RC Caylan Atelier with live ballet, symphony and opera performances and attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a fashion show. The previous record was 3,131 people. Local reporting after the event put ArtPrize’s attendance at 3,618, making Grand Rapids the new record holder.

That seems like a fitting ending for a year when ArtPrize felt ambitious again.

Is every piece of art going to be for everyone? Of course not. That is sort of the point.

You might love something I walk right past. A five-year-old might be fascinated by something an art critic never mentions. Someone else might spend twenty minutes staring at a work you do not understand at all.

Art truly is for everyone.

So if you skipped ArtPrize this year, put it on your calendar for next fall. Take your kids. Wander without a plan. Walk into a business you have never visited. Look at something weird. Talk to an artist. Find the piece that makes you stop.

And if you are a young or emerging artist looking for a place to show your work next year, I would love to hear from you. Swift Printing would be happy to welcome another artist to our Bridge Street venue for ArtPrize 2027. jes@swiftprinting.com

One final note: to the lovely woman from Sparta who stopped into our shop while I was out of the office and shared such kind words about Slaydon Style — thank you. I wish I had been there to meet you, or that you had left your name. Hearing that someone takes the time to read these little adventures of mine absolutely made my day.