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Grant
Awarded: April
2006
Type of Grant: Humanities Project Grant
Sponsor:
Frederik Meijer Gardes & Sculpture Park
Contact:
Linda Thompson, jbecherer@meijergardens.org
Website:
www.mejiergardens.org
Award:
$15,000
The Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park (Grand Rapids) was
awarded a $15,000 grant for public humanities programming to accompany
the sculpture exhibition, “Tom Otterness: From the Gardens
to the Grand.” Thirty-two of the Otterness bronze figures
will be on display at the Gardens and in downtown Grand Rapids from
June 1 through September 10. His work touches on literature, social
structure, politics, and pop culture. This will be the only Michigan
venue for this exhibition. Lectures (one by the artist himself),
guided walking tours with docents, a writing activity by age group,
art classes, gallery guides, an audio tour, youth summer camp, exhibition
catalogue, interpretive exhibit panels, and self-guided walking
tour maps are part of this project.
In
Tom Otterness: From Beginning to End, Meijer Gardens will follow
the artist's process as a public sculptor from sketches and ideas,
to models and maquettes, to the half-scale and full-scale work which
will be found throughout Meijer Gardens and downtown Grand Rapids.
On
display will be two sets of preparatory work: Otterness' proposals
for the New York City 9/11 memorial and his Macy's Thanksgiving
Day Parade Balloon. Visitors will also be able to follow the casting
process step-by-step, from model to final bronze.
Two
large-scale illustrated maps will also be installed in the galleries,
one detailing the Tom Otterness in Grand Rapids: the Gardens to
the Grand exhibition site-by-site; the other "Tom Otterness
in the World," showing his major public commissions in the
United States and Europe.
Tom
Otterness in Grand Rapids is a cultural-based activity for audiences
of all ages and experience. Additional educational programming is
provided through Meijer Gardens, in addition to a free, MP3 audio
tour, downloadable from MeijerGardens.org.
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