Art Prize - third time visit

Yesterday, Sept. 29, marked my third visit to Art Prize. I wanted to get to the three main venues I hadn't been able to visit last Friday, and catch whatever else I could. I decided to take the car downtown and park at Cathedral Square, the only main venue I hadn't yet visited. Figured (correctly) that there would be some free parking there. Visited all the artwork at the square, then caught the shuttle bus to downtown. Got off at the Grand Rapids Art Museum again as there was one exhibit that I wanted to see that had been temporarily closed last Friday. Stopped first to participate in a photography entry that was taking everyone's pictures. Haven't yet checked out to see what mine looked like! Then to the museum for a visit to the artwork made with salt and clay. Not permanent, it will disappear at the end of the competition.

Then off to the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and DeVos Place, the two other venues I really wanted to see. Neat artwork there, of course. Then headed toward the Hub and stopped at Calder Plaza for a few more pieces along the way. The left picture, entitled Roy G. Biv, was at Calder Plaza. Then a visit to the Hub where I bought a few Art Prize souvenirs. One was a bag and I had the clerk put my purchases in the bag rather than a plastic bag. Went around the corner and caught the shuttle back down to Cathedral Square. Once on the bus, I started to look at my purchases. Realized that the clerk hadn't put my pin and pen into the reusable bag. Debated for quite a while and finally decided to get off at Cathedral Square anyway, then try to find a short term meter near the Hub. The shuttle takes about 45 minutes to go all the way around the route so I was looking at a long ride to go all the way back to the Hub on the shuttle, then down to Cathedral Square.

Got my car, drove up to downtown, and had to circle the block(s) a few times, including a turn down a wrong way street, before I found a meter. Went inside and they had realized their mistake almost immediately. They had my missing items set aside and were glad I'd returned. So was I.

Headed home from there, then to Awana. Once I got home, put in my last votes for what I'd seen today, downloaded my pictures, and called it a day. I have probably about 5-6 hundred pictures which means I saw close to half of what was out there. Missed a lot of the little venues which were in restaurants and other businesses. Some weren't open during the weekday until evening.

This has been incredible. This much art right in my own backyard. The top ten are announced this evening, then I can vote for my favorite of the top ten. Winners announced in a week or so, top prize is $250,000.

Art Prize - second time around

Last Friday, the 24th, was my day to fully experience Art Prize. I decided to be a responsible citizen and park my car at the nearest Meijer and take a city bus downtown. Besides being a responsible citizen, it was cheaper to buy a wristband ($5) than to park in a lot ($7.) Wore my Scottevest that had been so handy in Europe and it proved to be handy again today. Inner pocket held my guidebook and (by the end of the day) lots and lots of artwork voting cards. One side pocket held my sandwich & water, another held a banana. And my camera occupied another inside pocket, though I had it out much of the time.

Arrived to find the bus already there so hopped right on. They only come every half hour so I got lucky! Different than the last bus I was on (in Paris) but worked out ok. Got off at the Woman's Club, one of the downtown venues, only to find it didn't open until noon and it was about 11:15. So walked around a bit in the drizzle, not quite enough for an umbrella, and ended up at the UICA (Urban Institute for Contemporary Art) which was another venue. Lots of interesting art there, wish I could post all the pictures. One picture of note was a picture that had been taken by a camera which had HIV-positive blood running past the lens. Not quite sure how they did that one. Ate my sandwich while there and was good to go for a while. Then walked around the area some more, eventually headed back to the Woman's Club and saw quite a few more good pieces of art both 2D and 3D. From there I headed toward the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Saw many neat works there, too - one that stands out there was a collection of rockets made from vintage vacuums and other such items. Steve would have liked that one. Also entered into a drawing to win tickets to the Diana show in November. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Visited several smaller venues and finally made it to the BOB. (Big Old Building) where there were some spectacular 2D and 3D art. One is pictured above, the two mirrored faces. Really liked that one, also the giant steam pig, a dragon, and many more. Also got the chance to play one of the many pianos painted and placed around downtown as an Art Prize entry. Ok, so I only know how to play the cleanup song from preschool teaching. But I still played.

Headed toward the Museums - stopping at the JW Marriott along the way where I saw a mosaic of the seven days of creation made entirely from pieces of crayon. Crossed the river, entered the Grand Rapids Public Museum which was free during Art Prize, a nice touch. Many more exhibits there. Then to the Gerald R. Ford Museum, with some nice exhibits as well. Getting tired by now - and knowing I was tied to bus schedules, decided to start heading for home. Walked back to the Public Museum where there was an ArtPrize shuttle bus. Took that to the bus stop, only to find the bus was already there but the shuttle stop was NOT a bus stop so the bus driver wouldn't let me on. Had to walk a couple of blocks to the nearest bus stop, then wait about a half hour (minus walking time) until the next bus. Made it back home about 6 p.m. Figured at this point I've about a third of the entries, maybe a few more. There are around 1700 all together I believe.

Check out the competition at http://www.artprize.org.

Art Prize 2010 - Frederik Meijer Gardens

Art Prize started last night! I've been looking forward to the second installment of this wonderful competition that brings artists from all over the world to Grand Rapids. Right here in our backyard, more art than I saw in London and Paris combined.

Today I decided to visit Frederik Meijer Gardens, the venue closest to home. Most of the art is located in downtown Grand Rapids, but I chose to start here since it was on my way to work, I wanted to see the Chihuly exhibit that has been here all summer as well.

Arrived at about 10 a.m., and started browsing all the art prize exhibits. Most were sculpture pieces located outdoors, though there were a few inside as well. I decided to pay the admission fee so that I could walk around the sculpture park and also see the Chihuly pieces. For those that might not know, Dale Chihuly does wonderful artwork in glass - in all sizes. Once inside, I toured the conservatory - different to be there without the butterflies! Wonderful little Chihuly pieces were around every corner, what a treat!

Then I went outdoors and walked around the sculpture park, had never toured the entire park since it had been opened (it's been a few years since I've been to FMG for anything other than the butterflies.) I saw old favorites such as the DaVinci horse, and lots of other interesting and not-so-interesting pieces as well. Sometimes ya gotta wonder what the artist was thinking....but most were interesting. Interspersed with the regular sculpture were more Chihuly pieces. My favorite is in the picture above, the blue globe that looks like a flower gone to seed. Came around a corner and found a pond and there it was! Awesome. The rest of the pond had many smaller pieces that looked like glass candy kisses.

I also was able to explore the children's garden, wish I had a little one to take there as it looks like a wonderful place to play and explore.

Finished by going to the gift shop and purchasing a guide book for Art Prize which came with a wristband and map so that I could park at the nearby Meijer store and take the bus downtown, which will save the hassle of parking.

I just finished voting for the artists/pieces at FMG online - that is part of the intrigue of Art Prize, that the public can vote for their favorites/non favorites. Up or down. You can text your vote but since my tracfone is still in the dark ages, I was able to vote online, a pretty easy process. Once the first week is finished, then the top ten up vote receivers will be in the running for the grand prize (you get to vote again for your favorite overall.)

There are, I think, around 1500 pieces of art on display in all. I don't expect to get to see them all, but hope to see quite a few. Looking forward to tomorrow when I plan to spend most of the day downtown looking at more art.

Life - September 2010

Life. It can be a blessing. Much of this month has gone rather well. I had what was to be my next-to-the last session with my counselor last week. We talked a lot about the blessings I have in my life, and how things were mostly turning around in all areas of my life. We agreed that the only concerns would be if Steve decided to go off again and how I would handle it, as well as if I had a good support system in place if he did.

Be careful what you wish for, that was just too much to throw in front of Satan without him taking notice. Or maybe it was just the ride to Hell (Michigan.) I don't know. In any case, last Friday being a nice day, we took a ride to the afore-mentioned place, just because it was the right distance away on what the guidebook said were some nice riding roads. This proved to be true, though our "visit" was quite non-exciting. Two restaurants and a gift shop, that's about all there is to that town. Of course there were two caches there, but since we made the ride decision at the last minute, I didn't know about them until we were back home.

Once we returned home, I got the mail. Steve opened it, and the bills (none of which were for my cards) set him off. Long story short, I am apparently the chief cause of his depression, as I don't work in a job up to my potential and there is no dignity in "wiping babies bottoms." Other words were said, but I'm happy with my response to them, hopefully got my point across without creating more of a storm.

I agreed to start looking for a full time position. I'm saddened that money is still the most important thing in Steve's life. If I'm full time, I'm not available for so much that he doesn't think about. We'd probably go back into a higher tax bracket. And the full time jobs just aren't out there too much. I did interview today for a lead teacher position here in Lowell. Yep, full time, but they could only pay me just over $8 an hour. I make $12 right now. Don't think he'll go for it.

It just breaks my heart to think of leaving my kids at Gilda's. I haven't even said anything yet to them, I certainly don't want to burn any bridges. My prayer though is that if this is God's plan, that he open the doors quickly and provide a gentle exit from Gilda's.

On a lighter note, I've now lost 14 pounds since starting my new way of eating. Feeling good, and my regular clothes have become too big - starting in on some of the clothes that have been put away for a while.

And - we are one of about 35,000 in our county without power this morning, thanks to a big storm that blew through last night. We have a generator, but I don't know much about it so Steve turned it off when he left this morning. I'm recharging the 'puter at BK and having lunch.

Have a nice day!

Health and eating...

At my last doctor's appt, he started me on a third diabetes med and said if that didn't bring down my A1C, then we would be discussing insulin. Now any of my regular readers know that the thing that would help even more than a third medicine would be to watch what I was eating a whole lot better than I have been. Given August was full of family times and my birthday, I set a target start date of August 25 (the day after Scott left for his home.)

I found a healthy eating plan in Woman's Day magazine, developed by a nutritionist named Joy Bauer. I think the article said she is on the Today show sometimes? Anyway, it gave specific meal suggestions - and said to drink two 8 oz glasses of water before lunch and dinner; a dinner salad (or soup but I don't really care for soup that much) before dinner; no starches at dinner and not a whole lot of them at other meals; no artificial sweeteners the first stage (1 wk); and a list of food choices.

So I'm following the plan. Happily enough, I don't feel the cravings like I thought I would. And I'm down around 7 pounds from what I was when I started. Not feeling brave enough to post that starting number yet though...

And best of all....my diabetes numbers have been right where they are supposed to be! I was actually getting low blood sugar episodes which tells me that I was taking too much medicine. So on Friday I called the dr.'s office, talked to the nurse and got agreement that I could drop the newest medicine, switch the second medicine to the evenings (since I was getting the low blood sugars in the morning) and see how that goes. Well, for the next few days I got low blood sugar in the evening.... so I decided to go without that as well and see what happened. No low blood sugar yesterday, and my numbers have still been what they are supposed to be. So I'm "unofficially" down to just one medicine already!

The weight is coming off ever so slowly but I'm very happy that the sugars have stabilized so quickly. This just has to be what it'll be like if I want to stay healthy and see grandchildren someday.