Fall into the Arts

FREE Community Open House

September 11 • 3 pm - 6 pm
The Grand Rapids Ballet Company
Grand Rapids
616-454-4771
www.GRBallet.com

The Grand Rapids Ballet Company invites everyone to see what Michigan’s only professional ballet company is all about during our Community Open House! People of all ages are welcome to try a class in one of our four large dance studios or take a peek at an open company rehearsal in the beautiful Peter Martin Wege Theatre.

The open house focuses on the many ways that people of all ages can enjoy the art and athleticism of dance with the Grand Rapids Ballet. Throughout the day visitors are invited to watch the dancers in action during open rehearsals, try some of the beginner classes the school has to offer, view costumes from this season’s shows, learn about volunteering, upcoming performances, and more. Grand Rapids Ballet staff and instructors and will be on hand to answer questions, teach classes and give tours.

Detour Art: Outsider, Folk Art, and Visionary Environments Coast to Coast

September 16 - November 7
Muskegon Museum of Art
Musekgon
231-720-2570
www.MuskegonArtMuseum.org

Experience over 90 works by visionaries, untrained artists, and folk creators found along the back roads of America, from the collection of Kelly Ludwig. The exhibition honors the creative spirit of artists working outside of the mainstream art world and sometimes well off the beaten paths, and is an informative introduction to contemporary American folk art. includes the art of Thornton Dial, Mose Tolliver, Howard Finster, Minnie Adkins, and James Harold Jennings. Also showcased are photographs of folk art environments such as S.P. Dinsmoor’s “The Garden of Eden,” Leonard Knight’s “Salvation Mountain,” and Simon Rodia’s “Watts Tower” in Los Angeles.

Stitching Stories of Miracles and Memories

Enma Principe Linan, Miracles, 2009

September 19 - January 2
Dennos Museum Center
Traverse City
800-748-0566
www.DennosMuseum.org

Stitching Stories is an exhibition that features embroidered and appliquéd fabric pictures called Cuadros, created by the women of two art cooperatives, Manos Anchashinas and Compacto Humano, located in Pamplona Alta, a shantytown situated on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Featured in this exhibition are Cuadros representing typical themes produced by the women, as well as a special commissioned project called Miracles and Memories.

For the women artists, the Cuadros serve a variety of purposes. Making and selling the art is an important economic enterprise that provides them with a way to support their families. Cuadros are also an avenue of self-expression, a means to demonstrate artistic skill, and a tangible way to create visual narratives of previous life in the countryside, experiences of migration, and current realities in the shantytowns. Whether the subjects are pastoral or political in nature, women depict themselves as integral members of their families and important participants in the events that shape their communities. With bits of cloth, textured fabric, and colored thread, the women of Pamplona Alta stitch together stories that underscore transitions in their lives. Illuminate episoded of generosity in a Peruvian shantytown make us attentive to the deeper meanings of joy and abundance.

One Woman's Creative Journey: Anita Luvera Mayer

Rainbow Dance, detail

September 19 - January 2
Dennos Museum Center
Traverse City
800-748-0566
www.DennosMuseum.org

Inspired by ethnic & historic garments, Anita Mayer designs original clothing in her Anacortes studio, infusing the work with her creative spirit. She believes there should be something magical & unique in what we wear each day & she wants to share this concept of clothing with others.

Anita Luvera Mayer is an internationally recognized weaver and versatile fiber artist, designer, and author. She was first introduced to weaving in 1955 when her mother-in-law gave her a floor loom as a wedding gift. Her focus on weaving contemporary garments began in 1972 and she has focused the last 10 years of her work about women's stories. Although she still weaves, her creative fiber work has evolved to include many types of innovative surface design techniques as well as incredible beadwork, embroidery, freeform knitting, and crochet.

Celebrating Women

India's Kali Puja

September 19 - January 2
Dennos Museum Center
Traverse City
800-748-0566
www.DennosMuseum.org

Forty-two of Paola Gianturco's vibrant color photographs feature festivals that honor women's roles, rites of passage, attributes, accomplishments, and spiritual lives.

The exhibit includes images from these celebrations:

• Swaziland's Reed Dance celebrates women as virgins
• Poland's Noc Šwietojaňsk Festival celebrates women as magical
• India's Kali Puja celebrates women as warriors
• Sweden's Festival of Sankta Lucia celebrates women as kind
• Brazil's Festival of Boa Morte celebrates women as political
• Morocco's Marriage Festival celebrates women as initiators

Paola Gianturco's involvement with women internationally is long standing. As a photojournalist, she has documented women's lives in 40 countries, was Chairman of the Board of The Crafts Center in Washington DC, worked with low income artisans in 79 countries, and was a board member of the Association for Women's Rights in Development. Before becoming a full-time photographer, she spent 34 years in marketing and communications.

ArtPrize

Ran Ortner's 2009 winning work, Open Water No. 24, is currently on display at the GRAM.

September 22 - October 10
Grand Rapids
www.ArtPrize.org

ArtPrize turns the city of Grand Rapids into an art gallery for two weeks. Galleries, office lobbies, restaurants, courtyards, parks--most any space can become an ArtPrize venue. This is a radically open art competition giving away the world's largest art prize - $250,000. Part arts festival, part social experiment - this international art contest is decided solely on a public vote.

Last year's competition showcased 1,262 artists from 41 states and 14 countries at 159 venues. Expect this year to be bigger as all things art take over Michigan's second largest city.

Here are some of our favorite venues:

• Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
• CBS Outdoor Billboards
• DeVos Place Convention Center
• Founders Brewing Co.
• Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
• Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
• Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
• Grand Rapids Art Museum
• The Grand Rapids Ballet Company
• Grand Rapids Children's Museum
• Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
• Grand Rapids Public Museum
• Holiday Inn Grand Rapids Downtown
• JW Marriott - Grand Rapids
• San Chez Bistro & Cafe

Grand Haven ArtWalk

September 22 - October 9
Grand Haven Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
Grand Haven
800-303-4088
www.VisitGrandHaven.com

For visitors looking to expand their Grand Rapids' ArtPrize experience, Grand Haven, located on the west coast of Lake Michigan, is the place to go. A half-hour drive from Grand Rapids, Grand Haven is home to many painters and sculptors, and to a beautiful beach!

Grand Haven ArtWalk takes will showcase artistic efforts from the local area and beyond. There will be outdoor sculpture along the Grand River Waterfront, in Central Park, and in other locations around town. Paintings, mixed media, indoor sculpture and photographs will be on view in businesses and community buildings throughout Downtown, CenterTown, and the Waterfront.

After perusing the streets and considering the art, the public will be able to vote on their favorites. From these votes, the winners in three categories will be awarded cash prizes at an awards ceremony held on Grand Haven's waterfront at the conclusion of the ArtWalk.

Out of this World

September 22 - October 10Grand Rapids Public Museum
Grand Rapids
616-456-3977
www.grmuseum.org

During ArtPrize 2010, the Grand Rapids Public Museum will not only boast the largest display of art among the exhibition centers but will also host three distinctive entries which are not possible in any other venue. The Museum’s unique array of entries includes three full-dome projection system art installations which will be shown in the Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium. The artists and their works include:

• Paul Grimmer
  Imagine being inside a kaleidoscope and you’ll have a sense for what’s in store as you watch Continuum, a meditation on notions of beauty, perfection and difference focusing on a body which is physically and digitally modified and transformed.
• Scott Hessels
  Celestial Mechanics helps one visualize the machines hovering, flying and drifting above our planet.
• Leon Trimble and Lisa Wetton
  Written on the Body is a 360˚ immersive, moving-image dance work that looks at the spiritual and spontaneous forces that instigate movement.

Each installation is approximately ten minutes long and the schedule will continuously rotate through the three entries throughout the posted ArtPrize hours. The planetarium should accommodate at least 7,250 visitors per day on the longest days. Following each performance, the artist's name and voting numbers will be projected onto the dome.

Guest Artist Series: Luna Negra Dance Theater

September 24
The Grand Rapids Ballet Company
Peter Martin Wege Theatre
Grand Rapids
616-454-4771
www.GRBallet.com

"Steering away from stereotypes and folkloric representations, Luna Negra brings to audiences modern Latino expressions with energy, power and passion, reflecting through dance the immense cultural shift that is shaping America in the 21st century." Grand Rapids Ballet Company is proud to welcome this Chicago-based dance company to our very own Peter Martin Wege Theatre for one amazing night!

Blue Coast Artists Fall Studio Tour

October 2 - 3 • 10 am - 6 pm
Blue Coast Artists
South Haven to Saugatuck
269-236-9260
www.bluecoastartists.com

For over twenty years the Blue Coast Artists have been delighting and educating the public with their annual Fall Tour of Studios. Viewers are invited once again to experience the creative process in action. See a piece of pottery form, watch glass beads take shape in the torch, a tree come alive through brushstrokes or a bird emerge from a piece of wood. These are just a few of the demonstrations that art lovers of all ages are sure to enjoy during the 21st Annual Blue Coast Artists Fall Tour of Studios.

This annual West Michigan autumn event runs from 10 am - 6 pm both days and is free of charge. The 2010 tour includes seven working artists' studios located between South Haven and Saugatuck. Each site features demonstrations, original artwork, refreshments and more. Hands-on art making projects, unique art abodes, a haunted garden and fall color makes this creative experience fun for the whole family.

Forever Young – A Retrospective of Bob Dylan Photographs by Douglas Gilbert

October 8 - December 31
Holland Museum
Holland
888-200-9123
www.HollandMuseum.org

Holland Museum's Focus Gallery plays host to a series of 1960's images from former LOOK Magazine photographer (and Holland-area resident) Douglas Gilbert captured during his time spent with a young Bob Dylan.

Our Town

October 15 - 30
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
Grand Rapids
616-222-6650
www.grct.org

Tickets: $14 - $25

One of the greatest American plays ever written, Thornton Wilder's Our Town. As compelling today as it was when first performed in 1938, this American classic celebrates the beauty of life as it is played out against a simplistic backdrop of daily rituals. These timeless activities provide us with a deeply moving, universal glimpse into the concerns of all humankind.

Splendid Threads, Secret Messages: The Language of Japanese Kimonos

October 21 - January 23
Muskegon Museum of Art
Musekgon
231-720-2570
www.MuskegonArtMuseum.org

This exceptional group of kimonos has been drawn from a private Michigan collection to introduce visitors to the kimono as a work of art and as an instrument of traditional Japanese craft, culture, and personal adornment. The dazzling effects of color and ornamentation will be especially appealing during the winter holiday season, and the exhibition will draw much attention during the MMA’s annual Festival of Trees.

Who Cares?

October 22 - 24
The Grand Rapids Ballet Company
DeVos Performance Hall
Grand Rapids
616-454-4771
www.GRBallet.com

Our Fall Production features a work by George Balanchine titled Who Cares? This classic favorite, to songs by George Gershwin, portrays an exuberance that is broadly American. We have also invited a few world stars to perform a classical bravura showcase and a contemporary firework. We will open the evening with the grand ballet Raymonda Pas de Dix in elaborate tutu’s, tiaras and chandeliers. All these works combine in one huge show, creating a season opener of incredible talent and artistry!

Diana - A Celebration

November 9 - February 16
Grand Rapids Art Museum
Grand Rapids
616-831-1000
www.artmuseumgr.org

This award-winning exhibition showcases the life and humanitarian work of one of the 20th century's most remarkable women, Diana, Princess of Wales. The exhibition's nine galleries will feature more than 150 personal objects including her royal wedding gown, 28 designer dresses, family heirlooms, personal mementos and rare home movies.

The Enduring Gifts of Martin A. Ryerson

November 11 - January 16
Muskegon Museum of Art
Musekgon
231-720-2570
www.MuskegonArtMuseum.org

As the MMA moves ever closer to its Centennial, special attention will be focused on great Museum advocates, sharing donated artworks and personal histories with the public that have shaped the past, present, and future of this institution and community. The year 1932 marked the 20th anniversary of the Hackley Art Gallery (now the MMA). In March of that year, director Frank Atwood Almy contacted Chicago art collector and Grand Rapids native, Martin A. Ryerson, Jr., whose family was prominent in the lumber era here, and encouraged him to donate a work of art to the Museum. As a result, Ryerson gifted six major European and American paintings to the MMA before he died in the fall of 1932, including works by French Impressionists including Alfred Sisley, Armand Guillaumin, and Paul Signac; representing “a field entirely untouched” in the collection, Almy noted. The Ryerson estate gifted eight additional pictures in 1938, providing an enduring and significant body of work.

Peter Pan

November 19 - December 19
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
Grand Rapids
616-222-6650
www.grct.org

Tickets: $16 -$30

This is the beloved story of Peter, Wendy, Michael, John, Capt. Hook, Smee, the lost boys, pirates and the indians, and, of course, Tinker Bell, in their adventures in Never Land. A resonant and beguiling fantasy that boasts as much spectacle as any child could wish; and that, at the same time, touches on the double tragedy of growing up into conformity or being marooned indefinitely in the Neverland.

Remember Newaygo County: The Symbolist Painting of Annabel Livermore

Through October 31
Muskegon Museum of Art
Musekgon
231-720-2570
www.MuskegonArtMuseum.org

A seminal exhibition of paintings by El Paso, Texas-based artist Annabel Livermore, who spent her formative years in West Michigan. Comprised of 20 works whose visionary subjects arise from the artist’s “embellished memories” of the western region of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and the reverence she feels for the places and people surrounding Pickerel Lake, located between the cities of Fremont and Newaygo. Annabel Livermore is the alter ego of artist Jim Magee. Annabel, conceived as a retired librarian from Newaygo County who took up painting later in life.

Support provided in part by the Fremont Area community Foundation.

Chihuly at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park: A New Eden

Through October 31
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Grand Rapids
888-957-1580
www.MeijerGardens.org

The work of renowned artist Dale Chihuly will be the subject of a large-scale outdoor exhibition at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Fifteen monumental glass sculpture installations will be located throughout our conservatories, gardens and grounds. Chihuly designed the exhibition specifically to respond to the horticultural focus and natural conditions of each of the respective sites. Chihuly at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park: A New Eden celebrates the efforts of one the world’s foremost artists across the campus of one of the nation’s most unique cultural organizations. In addition to the exhibition, two permanent installations are on display: Gilded Champagne Gardens Chandelier in Meijer Gardens’ Atrium and the newly installed Lena’s Garden suspended from the ceiling of the Café.

Shout Freedom!

Marvin E. Newman, Halloween, South Side

Through November 7
Muskegon Museum of Art
Musekgon
231-720-2570
www.MuskegonArtMuseum.org

Photo League Selections from the Columbus Museum of Art Gritty, documentary images of urban life photographed by members of the New York Photo League, a group formed in 1938 whose membership was comprised of early pioneers in the documentary photography field. Novice and professional photographers alike used their camera lens to artistically capture a defining moment in our nation’s history as well as make statements on the social and economic climate of the era. The Photo League was one of the most influential photography movements of the 20th century but was surrounded in controversy and conjecture. It is also paradoxically one of the least known contributors in the history of photography. This exhibition will act as an educational piece for students and community members who are not familiar with its historical significance and the role it plays in contemporary documentary photography.

Small Art

Through November 7
South Haven Center for the Arts
South Haven
269-637-1041
www.SouthHaven.org

This is 4 x 6 Art-Lets Exhibition and is open to the community. Create a work of art the size of a standard photo (4x6). These little gems can be made of any medium 2D/3D. Simply create your masterpiece & submit it to the Art Center with labels & a form provided--no submission fee. Each piece will be sold at the end of the exhibit during a closing reception for $30 each.

Sculptors Celebrate the Legacy of Fred and Lena Meijer

Through January 2
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Grand Rapids
888-957-1580
www.MeijerGardens.org

Through the generosity of Fred and Lena Meijer, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has assembled one of the world’s foremost collections of Modern and contemporary sculpture. In honor of the Meijer legacy and in celebration of the namesake institution’s 15th anniversary, contemporary sculptors represented in the permanent collection will be displaying new work in this unique gallery exhibition. From Louise Bourgeois and Deborah Butterfield, to Mark di Suvero and Antony Gormley, to Claes Oldenburg and Tom Otterness, many artists have developed a special affinity for Meijer Gardens and the Meijers themselves. This exhibition individually examines the present endeavors of numerous iconic masters from across the contemporary scene and collectively commemorates the breadth and depth of the permanent collection developed with the support of Fred and Lena Meijer.

Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Program Series

Grand Rapids Public Museum
Grand Rapids
616-456-3977
www.grmuseum.org

The fall series features three organists who each bring their own expertise and style to the instrument that spent two decades entertaining customers in the 28th Street Roaring 20s Pizza Parlor, before moving to its current location at the Public Museum.

The fall programs will feature Jelani Eddington on September 17 and 18; Dave Wickerham on October 22 and 23; and Ken Double on November 26 and 27. Friday concerts are from 7-9 pm and Saturday concerts are from 2-4 pm. Individual concert tickets are $8 Members/$10 Non-members/$5 Children and can be purchased by calling 616.456.3977, online at grmuseum.org, or at the Museum’s front desk. A six-program Season Ticket package (including 3 spring dates) is also available for $45 for Members/$50 for Non-members.

The organ was crafted in 1928 by the Wurlitzer Company of North Tonawanda, New York. Originally designed by Robert Hope-Jones as "one man orchestras" to accompany silent movies, more than 2,200 Mighty Wurlitzers were built between 1914 and 1940. Installed in theaters, homes, churches and other public places they soon became part of the fabric of communities.

Originally created for the Stanley Theater in Jersey City, New Jersey this “Opus #1836” model was acquired by the founders of Roaring Twenties Pizza Parlor in Grand Rapids in the mid 1970’s. When the pizza parlor closed in 1991 a committee lobbied to keep this unique instrument in the city and found a place for it in the newly built home of the Public Museum.