ArtPrize revealed the Top 20 Public Vote Finalists Sunday at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids.
The 20 artists selected move on to the second round of voting, alongside the Category Jurors' twenty picks, announced last week. All 40 artist entries will continue on in the competition with a chance of winning $500,000 in prizes -- including two $200,000 grand prizes and a $100,000 in category awards.
Hundreds of art-loving visitors gathered downtown Sunday afternoon as Kristian Grant, ArtPrize donor development manager, and Kevin Buist, ArtPrize exhibitions director, made the announcements.
It was a shocking moment, said Amanda Joy Gilbert, whose piece Crowns of Courage that she created with Steve Stone and David Burgess, made it into the top 20. The piece empowers women going through cancer treatment with henna tattoo crowns.
"We weren't really sure what to expect," Gilbert said. "We're just happy to be here and be a part of it."
The works will speak for themselves, said Richard App, an ArtPrize finals veteran. App and Ryan Spencer Reed made it back with the piece Oil + Water, which creates an oil slick illusion in the Grand River to promote clean water.
"It's great to see that we're getting recognition because that means that the issues that Rich and I care about, those issues are being raised and heightened," Spencer Reed said.
ArtPrize is a 19-day story that's entering an exciting new chapter, said Executive Director Christian Gaines.
"The narrative between comparing and contrasting what the experts think to what the public thinks is really starting to tighten up and, kind of, close in," Gaines said.
The first round of voting closed Sept. 30 at 11:59 p.m., with 35,318 visitors casting 327,814 votes. Visitors elevated five artist entries from each category: 2D, 3D, Installation and Time-Based.
The second round of voting for the final 20 runs until Thursday, Oct. 5, at 11:59 p.m. For more information, visit www.artprize.org.
In no particular order, the ArtPrize Nine Public Vote Final 20 are as follows:
Two-Dimensional
Crowns of Courage by Amanda Gilbert, David Burgess and Steven Stone at DeVos Place Convention Center
Team Spirit by Anni Crouter at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Life, Death and Transformation by Frits Hoendervanger at The B.O.B.
9/11 by Mher Khachatryan at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
A. Lincoln by Richard Schlatter at Amway Grand Plaza
Three-Dimensional
The Salvere Hitch by Jeff Best at Amway Grand Plaza
Fenced In by Cassandra Burgess at The B.O.B.
Whimsical Harmony by Bruce Gorsline at JW Marriott Grand Rapids
Early January on the Pearl Street Bridge by Melodee Jackson at DeVos Place Convention Center
Lux Maximus Fused Glass, Copper, Bronze and Metal by Daniel Oropeza at Grand Rapids Public Museum
Installation
SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers) by A+J Art+Design at Grand River
ENMESH by Leroi DeRubertis at Grand Rapids Art Museum
Decadence: Sugar Mural by Shelley Miller at Grand Rapids Public Museum
Oil+Water by Ryan Spencer Reed and Richard App at Grand River
AUTISM A Visual Journey by Ann Vincenti-Michelman at the city water building by the richard app gallery
Time-Based
Red Dirt Rug Monument by Rena Detrixhe at Western Michigan University - Grand Rapids
broke(n)hunger by Kyd Kane at Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA)
Object-Orientalis by Eva Rocha at The Fed Galleries at KCAD, Kendall College of Art and Design
Monsters Go by Aaron Zenz at Grand Rapids Children's Museum
Midtown Flutter by Yuge Zhou at Grand Rapids Art Museum
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the WZZM 13 app now.
April Stevens is a multi-platform producer at WZZM 13. Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.