Artprize 2013

artprizeetc from outypants on Vimeo.

    
          Our second year of Artprize greeted us with warm weather and lots of new art to vote on. I easily voted on one out of three entries I saw last year, maybe it was the rookie in me, who got easily excited and impressed by what I see. I realized sometimes I would vote after I talked to the artist, as if they would know one way or another if I voted on them. I call it the guilt vote. Really though I never voted on something I didn't think was at least worth a mention.  Sometimes it is a good guess that an entry isn't going to win, but "hey its pretty neat and isn't something I could do" therefore it gets a vote. 

My Mother-n-law's favorite
made from license plates, a boat wheelbarrow and other odds and ends.

 This year I was much more critical and found myself  texting my vote a lot less.

The living statue. If you put some money in the jar he would come to life and play a song.

Flash Off

Flash On

Nathan and I even got a date day to explore more than we would with the kids.

This entry made the top 10. It is carved out of wood.

Homeschool outing with our friends the Clarks. It was nice going during the weekday, with less traffic.

Earth Giant. I overheard the artist is a college student who after entering went back to college out east and once his professors heard he made the top 25, told him to return to Michigan. He did end up making the top 10 list.

The Winner

I voted for this entry and hoped it would win. I am not sure how I managed it, but after seeing it twice I didn't get my own photo?  It is a four panel quilted image of The Sleeping Bear Dunes.

It took the artist one year to make.  Anne Loveless is a Michigan native.

This is us, summer 2012 at Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Sleeping Bear

The conclusion to a weekend in Traverse City was spent visiting The Sleeping Bear Dunes.

 Jason and Isaiah Krohn were able to join us for the trip. 

The dunes are part of The National Lakeshore, which means they are owned and operated by the government. In 2011, it was named the most beautiful place in America-by the ABC's network morning show "Good Morning America."

On the way to the dunes is a little town called Glen Haven. We spotted this Herbie car in the parking lot. What else can you do if you have a white VW bug, but paint it like Herbie?

Skipping rocks and looking for Petoskey stones.
We found a few.

This is what a Petoskey stone looks like. We didn't find any this big.

The water was freezing. Lake Michigan doesn't warm up too much this far north.

I love Elliot's face here as it perfectly captures the shock of the cold.
 The kids were offered .25c if they went completely under, all three took up the challenge. 

This man was doing some blacksmithing. He explained some techniques and tidbits about life in the village  from when it was thriving.

A boat museum is housed in what used to be a cannery.  

The Sleeping Bear is a Chippewa Indian legend.
Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but eventually the cubs tired and lagged behind. Mother bear reached the shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. Too tired to continue, the cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the faithful mother bear.

A test of strength and stamina is to climb back up.  Signs are posted warning that if rescuers are needed to assist you back up the dune, a fee will be charged. We would consider doing the fun run down and the arduous climb up, when the kids are older.
Hopefully by then we won't be too old to do it ourselves.

A scenic drive allows easy access to this viewing point from the dune.

Elliot and Isaiah trying to find some good jumping points. 

At the top of the dune.  
The view is marvelous and a reminder of just how beautiful the Great Lake State can be.