GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — This year’s ArtPrize offers a unique opportunity for you to make your mark on Calder Plaza.
Artist Howard Wright is asking attendees to pick up a brush and help paint the plaza’s iconic sculpture.
It’s all part of his piece “Paint the Calder.”
The six-by-12-foot canvas is essentially a paint-by-number project but on a much larger scale.
There are 1,500 spots to fill in and ten colors to choose from.
Anyone eight-years-old and up is welcome to fill in a section.
“After COVID and being separated and, you know, this idea of the paint by number really came about because it’s something that anybody can do, anybody with any abilities,” Wright said. “[It] brings us to, kind of, together in a weird way and it allows people to have a little bit different, more interactive experience with ArtPrize.”
Also, there are plans for an artist’s mosaic using headshots of all the participants.
This project will be parked at the Hyatt Place in downtown Grand Rapids.
The painting’s progress was documented online, and Wright hopes to have it complete by the second week of the festival.
The project was more than halfway finished with more than 850 participants when Wright provided FOX 17 with an update on Sept. 20, along with this composite photo:
