GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The days at the former Kensington School building are numbered.
In the Black Hills neighborhood of Grand Rapids, a piece of the city's history is falling into ruin. This November, the near century-old building will be torn down and turned into green space.
But at ArtPrize, its architecture is standing the test of time, supported by two artists: Zachary Trebellas and Amber Bledsoe.
"I felt like we were losing something," Trebellas said about the building's planned end.
In 2010, Trebellas graduated from Columbia College Chicago and began creating artwork about "community loss," including a piece on the permanent closure of his hometown's particle accelerator, "Farewell Tevatron."
Now a resident of Grand Rapids, Trebellas first saw the Kensington School building, formerly Adelante High School, while on a bike ride.
"We have our own history that's getting older all the time," Trebellas said.
From the Calvin Coolidge presidency to the time of George W. Bush, the school taught generations, many of whom still live in the secluded, southwest corner of the city.
In May 2023, the board for Grand Rapids Public Schools voted to demolish the long-abandoned building, citing chronic break-ins and vandalism, and turned down proposals to develop the site.
"I think it's kind of a beautiful tribute to what's sadly coming next for the building," Bledsoe said about the artwork.
When the district decided on the building's demise, Trebellas approached Bledsoe about a potential art installation.
"We're losing this beautiful piece of history that was manmade," Bledsoe said.
In her artist's statement, Bledsoe says her body of work "explores complex relationships to other humans, materials, and objects." The ArtPrize entry was a "natural progression" of that purpose.
In an old athletic building on Ottawa Avenue, "A Swan Song to the Kensington School Building" stands tall in a second-floor gymnasium.
"We think of it as sort of a remix of the school," Trebellas said. "We're taking the elements, and then we're just playing with them in an exhibition."
The installation reflects the "physical history" of the building, with its exterior brick modeled by two swaths of long, flowing fabric and 18-by-12-inch pieces of paper that make a multi-colored wall.
"We were literally touching it and rubbing it and wrapping it," Trebellas said. "I think we wanted to have that close connection with the building."
This summer, Trebellas and Bledsoe took crayons and other art supplies to Kensington for a Community Day. Together with members of the neighborhood, they captured the brick's texture by pressing different mediums onto the building and rubbing them with crayons— a process called "frottage."
"I wanted this project to have their hands on it," Trebellas said about Black Hills residents. "It's a part of their everyday lives."
In addition, plaster molds replicate the building's architectural design and artificial vegetation recalls recent years of overgrowth and disrepair.
"It's greater than just one school in a tiny neighborhood of Grand Rapids," Bledsoe said. "That's a loss for them, but it's also a huge loss for Grand Rapids in general, and for historical buildings."
For Trebellas, he considers the building a modern "ruin" whose pillars are comparable to those from Ancient Rome. He's still trying to save portions of the school, perhaps a small section of brick, before demolition.
"Our own history here is not being treated with as much value or respect.," Trebellas said. "What are our own ruins here and what do we find of value?"
