Artist's Suggestion to Quiet Some Criticisms of 'Populist' ArtPrize Contest

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By Maurice Jacobson

Visitors look at photographs in Maurice Jacobsen's ArtPrize entry "Facing Al Aqaba" at Ah-Nab-Awen Park along the Grand River on Thursday, September 19, 2013. (MLive.com File Photo)

ARTPRIZE---Grumbling over the ArtPrize Top 10 and eventual first place winner persists every year. ArtPrize 2013 finalist Maurice Jacobsen has an idea about how to solve this problem and, perhaps, quell the naysayers who discount the contest as a mere popularity show. Jacobsen's "Facing Al Aqaba" was a "series of large photographic portraits of the men, wom6en and children of the village of Al Aqaba, Palestine." So is there a solution … perhaps yes … I offer one here for ArtPrize to consider. To pool both the expert short list and the popular short list into one list upon which the general public can vote. This would draw viewers to more challenging works and more deeply expose the entire viewing audience to art in its many forms other than that which is simply "easy on the eye".