ArtPrize 10 Exhibition
Gwen Frostic School of Art, Grand Rapids, 2018

ArtPrize is an international art competition & cultural festival held annually in Grand Rapids, Michigan---a celebration of ideas, conversations, experimentation and inclusiveness. Each year, the event welcomes over 800,000 visitors to discover the transformative power of art.

As Assistant Curator for the 10th annual event in 2018, Jessica worked with celebrated curator, Don Desmett, to reviewed thousands of applications and manage the selection, contracting, and installation of artworks by Vanessa Filley, Patrick D. Wilson, Mary-Louise Totton, Kate Teale, a collaborative series between Greg Pond and Banning Bouldin, and more.

Exhibition Overview

This exhibition explores how imagery, sound and even abstract forms can take on new meaning and narrative qualities when viewed through a cultural lens. As a series, Vanessa Filley’s #MeToo photographs impresses upon the viewer how widespread sexual assault has become, and shines a light on the need for change. In a similar vein, Patrick D. Wilson’s large scale wood sculpture, Internal Expanse, utilizes repetitious islamic geometric patterns, held upright and together by an interlocking roof. When viewed within the context of ongoing conflict in the middle east, the sculpture creates an interesting dialogue around cultural preservation and sheltering of islamic traditions. Mary-Louise Totton’s abstract grid of raffia and bamboo strips in News Cycles: Atmospheric Capture intermingles the long held artistic and storytelling traditions of Oceanic peoples with the consumerist, future-oriented nature of western societies. Each piece in this exhibition is inherently and irrevocably tied to the various cultural and social themes at play on a global scale in 2018.