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Veteran ArtPrize artists welcome gap years in the competition

The competition will take its first hiatus in 2019.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Making ArtPrize a biennial competition will allow artists to create more innovative work for each contest, veteran artists said on Sunday.

Officials at ArtPrize announced Thursday, June 21 that the festival will take place every other year. Beginning in 2019, a citywide public art experience, called Project 1 by ArtPrize, will take its place during the off years.

Related: After 10 years, ArtPrize will take place every other year in Grand Rapids

The event became predictable over the last 10 years, said Deborah Hoover, who has entered paintings in five ArtPrize competitions. Her entry this year is titled, "Good Vibes."

"I thought the energy was dissipating somewhat," Hoover said. "And I thought, 'Oh good. Now I have another year to come up with something different instead of trying to come up with something new every year."

All aspects of ArtPrize will get stronger with the extra time, said Sierra Cole, a fiber artist and four-time competitor.

"I think the artists will be able to take more time to prep for future ArtPrizes," Cole said. "I think the venues will be better conceived and better curated."

The time off and launch of Project 1 may generate more interest from people who felt ArtPrize was getting stale, she said.

"I think the conversation got a little lost and that's one of the things that ArtPrize really wants to have is for people to understand art and be able to talk about it," Cole said. "So overall I'm really excited about it, and I think it's an excellent idea."

ArtPrize 10 runs from Sept. 19 to Oct. 7.

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