CRC Artists Integrate Faith at ArtPrize

Many Christian Reformed Church artists and congregations, along with Calvin College, are participating in ArtPrize, the international public art competition that opens Wednesday for two weeks in Grand Rapids, Mich.

This is the third year for ArtPrize, which features over 1,500 artists from across the nation and elsewhere who are competing for $450,000 in prize money. The event takes place in 163 venues downtown and in several nearby neighborhoods. There is also a display outside of town at a local sculpture park.

While artists from many places and religious and non-religious persuasions take part in ArtPrize, there is also a strong CRC presence in the event (see list of artists at the bottom of this article). Some CRC artists and congregations see ArtPrize as an opportunity to involve themselves and their faith in the wider community. For some, it is a chance to educate people who visit the venues about important issues in the world.

Calvin College, for instance, has teachers, students and alumni with entries in ArtPrize, many of which are geared to be thought-provoking and challenging.

Documentary photographer Ryan Spencer Reed, a Calvin graduate in 2002, has an exhibit of nearly 40 photographs that he says help chronicle the “history, geopolitics, socioeconomics, and human toll of the conflicts in Sudan.” After graduating from Calvin, Reed entered Sudan a half dozen times in both the south and Darfur, in addition to covering the mass exodus of refugees to Eastern Chad and Kenya.

“Sudan and its people are still very much at the forefront of contemporary issues. South Sudan is our world's newest nation. In spite of the victory of succession, after so many years of sustained conflict, there is so much to be rebuilt,” he said, adding that he will speak to groups about what his work has to say about the situation in Sudan.

On a less geo-political note, Calvin professor of geology, geography and environmental studies Henk Aay will lead “a sea of bicyclists dressed in orange t-shirts” this Saturday (weather permitting) on the Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike fundraiser. This more than three-mile trip from the college into downtown is a fundraiser for a local non-profit and provides riders with a leisurely a preview tour of ArtPrize.

"This is not a race at all," said Aay. "This is simply a fun morning where you can cycle to ArtPrize and enjoy some of the exhibits." For more information on Go Green, Go Dutch, Go Bike, contact Henk Aay at 616-526-7033 or at [email protected].

For a list of Calvin artists involved in the competition, go to ArtPrize participants.

Meanwhile, Monroe Community Church, a church plant of Christian Reformed Home Missions, has been involved in ArtPrize since it began three years ago. Located in a converted warehouse in downtown Grand Rapids, the CRC congregation has members who are artists and have entered ArtPrize. But the church also opens its sanctuary as one of the venues for the display of entries to ArtPrize.

“We transform our worship space into an art gallery,” said Rev. Amy Schenkel, a pastor at Monroe Community Church.

Since each venue chooses the entries to feature in their space, Monroe Community chooses ones that have a faith dimension to them. Monroe features more than 20 ArtPrize entries this year, ranging from photographs to paintings to sculpture.

The church also integrates the art into worship by focusing on one piece of art and the artist during each of the four Sundays that fall before, during and at the end of ArtPrize, said Schenkel.

As part of their worship service, they interview the artist, asking him or her to talk about the spiritual elements of their work as well as to speak a little about their relationship with God. The church also ties that week’s sermon in with the theme reflected in the work of art.

“We have found that these Sunday services have a profound impact on people,” said Schenkel.

Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids has an arts team that has created an entry to this year’s ArtPrize. In the description of their multi-media entry for ArtPrize, the team writes that through their art pieces on fabric, worked with wax and dyes, they “aim to help people to connect with God and to the beauty of shapes, colors and words.”

These are only a few examples of CRC artists and congregations who are involved in ArtPrize. Below is a list of all the CRC members we know of with entries in this year’s ArtPrize. Click each link to read more about them and their work.

Are we missing some CRC members with ArtPrize entries? Please add them.