Tagged: Art

Don't throw it out! Put that dryer lint in a box next to the crayons, markers, and pencils. Turns out, it can be used to make art.

The Associated Press has a report on Laura Bell's laundry lint creation... a 14'x4' replica of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." Bell is from Roscommon, Michigan.

From the report:

Bell says she needed about 800 hours to do enough laundry to get the lint, and 200 hours to recreate the mural. She bought towels of the colors she wanted and laundered them separately to get the right shades of lint.

The report says Ripley's Believe It or Not plans to display the piece in one of its museums, adding to other "Last Supper" replicas "made from a grain of rice, a dime and burned toast."

On the Ripley's website, Laura Bells says people have different reactions when seeing the piece:

“For some people, it’s a very spiritual experience. Others are simply amazed at what someone could do with basic laundry lint.”

A group of artists in Saginaw has been spray painting the lyrics to Simon & Garfunkel's bittersweet song "America" onto vacant buildings in Saginaw.

NPR has more on a story we posted earlier. The man spearheading the project, Eric Schantz, says he can relate to the song's lyrics:

Need help finding the perfect holiday gift for the bibliophile in your life?

The folks at the Library of Michigan have come up with their annual "Michigan Notable Books" list: 20 books about Michigan or by Michigan authors.

We interview Randy Riley on this week's Artpod. Riley is in charge of special collections at the Library of Michigan, and he says "there’s something for everybody on this list."

The organizers of Artprize announced Wednesday the dates for next year’s contest. The winner of the art competition is decided by the voting public who visit the event in downtown Grand Rapids.

Not much will change for next year’s contest besides the thousands of art installations. This year the event had more artists, venues and people casting ballots for their favorite works. Organizers want to see the momentum continue through ArtPrize 2011, so they’re not messing with the formula too much.

ArtPrize's organizers are announcing plans for the 3rd annual art competition next year in Grand Rapids.  The event will run in 2011 from September 21st through October 9th.

The Associated Press reports:

Organizers say they again expect top 10 prizes totaling $449,000 will be awarded. The public picks winners online and by cell phone in "American Idol"-style voting.

This year's ArtPrize was a 19-day event with the winner, Chris LaPorte of Grand Rapids, receiving the top prize of $250,000.

Every once in a while you stumble upon a story that passed you by. Here's one I missed from Paul Farber, a former arts intern here at Michigan Radio.