Grand Rapids Community Foundation is excited to play its part in ArtPrize the international art competition running from September 23 to October 10 in Grand Rapids. We are hosting two very different artists at our building (185 Oakes Street SW). One is muralist Daan Hoekstra who is an American living in Mexico and the other is Aaron Heideman, who is from Oregon.
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The Mural: A New Piece of the Community Foundation
Humanity at the Crossroads, the piece created by Daan Hoekstra is located on the east side of Grand Rapids Community Foundation's building (facing Van Andel Arena). The painting features the face of a woman in a headscarf looking backwards into the past and looking also into the future. To learn more about Daan, how he came to be an ArtPrize artist and more about the meaning of the mural we offer this short video produced by Steketee Greiner and Company.
Daan Hoekstra
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A Man, A Van and Stories of the Recession
Aaron Heideman spent this summer traveling across the country in a 1989 Dodge van collecting the stories of people who have been affected by the recession for his project The Man in a Van Project.
Aaron started his journey in Eugene, Oregon on July 1 and has visited 35 of he country’s most economically hard hit cities in 20 states. Along the way, thousands of people have participated in his project by writing their stories about the recession on a banner half the length of a football field. Select stories have also been written on the van. The banner is currently being displayed on the west side of the Community Foundation’s building. Of his project Aaron writes, “My goal in completing this project is two-fold. I hope to discover the heart of the financial struggle that is consuming America, and I hope to challenge the viewer’s perception of what is possible, in a very real, candid, and emotionally honest way.”
Throughout his journey, Aaron received a great deal of media coverage. Visit his site at The Man in A Van Project to view a small sampling.
