Eye On The Prize

Local teen in the running at Grand
Rapids arts competition.

I

Suzanne Chessler

Contributing Writer

A

high school art assignment
turned into a powerful oppor-
tunity for Rachel Felsenfeld of
Farmington Hills.
Felsenfeld, a recent graduate of North
Farmington High School, completed
a piece called Prequel for a sculpture
class, and teacher Scott Brazeau sug-
gested she enter it in ArtPrize, the
annual exhibit-competition filling
Grand Rapids venues and this year run-
ning Sept. 18-Oct. 6.
Felsenfeld's piece, to be displayed
at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Museum, is eligible for a $200,000
grand prize decided by public voting.
"I'm really happy that the museum
wanted to show my work!' says
Felsenfeld, 18, who plans on pursuing
a double major in art and English at
Grand Valley State University.
"Our assignment was to create
Giacometti-esque pieces with elongated
figures, and I took a looser approach.
Prequel has bodies pushing and pulling
at each other and becomes a physical
representation of how people come to
be isolated"
The sculpture, which took three
months to complete, is made from
16-gage wire, clay and plaster. It is 3
feet wide and 2 feet tall.
ArtPrize, open to any artist, was
planned to promote critical dialogue
and collaboration throughout the year.
The fifth annual event will have more
than 1,500 entries representing artists
from 47 countries.
Nearly 170 venues along downtown
Grand Rapids will showcase artworks in a
display that is free and open to the public.
In addition to the prizes decided by
participants using either the ArtPrize
app or artprize.org, there will be jur-
ied prizes as chosen by a panel of arts
professionals. All awards add up to
$560,000, creating the world's largest
art competition.
Felsenfeld browsed ArtPrize last year,
joining some 400,000 visitors as she
traveled on summer vacation with fam-
ily and was impressed with the size and
caliber of the event.
The ArtPrize entrant is the daughter
of Laurel Felsenfeld, a geriatric case
manager, and Mark Felsenfeld, a speech
pathologist.
"Before I took Mr. Brazeau's class,
most of my art was done through draw-
ing and painting" Felsenfeld explains.

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Rachel Felsenfeld: Prequel.

"My focus has been realism. I paint
what I see.
"My interest in art started when I was
a young child. I just picked up a pencil
and drew. My parents nurtured my
creativity!"
Felsenfeld, who has not decided on
a career goal, watched artistic talents
shown by her mother, who likes using
watercolors to paint beach scenes, and
her grandfather, Bill Felsenfeld, who
enjoys painting portraits.
Rachel Felsenfeld has taken art class-
es at the Costick Center in Farmington
Hills, the Birmingham Bloomfield Art
Center in Birmingham and Blue Lake
Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Mich.
During a family trip to Israel about
three years ago, she completed sketches
of Jewish landmarks. Her bat mitzvah
was celebrated at Temple Shir Shalom.
"I like painting with acrylics, and
my works have been exhibited at North
Farmington," Felsenfeld says. "I've
shown a painting of a friend, entitled
Vivian, and a series of sculpted heads
made of clay and wire called Stream of

Consciousness:'

This summer, Felsenfeld has been
finishing a wood carving of wolves, a
project started in class. She has trav-
eled to Germany as part of a choir from
Blue Lake and will be hanging out with
friends ready to attend different colleges.
Felsenfeld, who believes her painting
and drawing skills have improved by
exercising her sculptural talents, has day-
dreamed a bit about what she will do if
ArtPrize chooses her among the winners.
"I'll make a donation to the high
school art program and buy supplies for
myself" says the emerging artist. "I'll
put the rest of the money away" ❑

ArtPrize runs Sept.18-Oct. 6 in
Grand Rapids. For information on
free attendance and voting, go to
artprize.org .

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September 12 • 2013 55