Final Christie's Report: Detroit Art Worth Up to $867-Million

DETROIT FREE PRESS
By Randy Kennedy

Detail from Michelangelo drawing for design of Sistine Chapel, estimates auction value is $12 million to $20 million

MICHIGAN---The price tags are on the paintings. Detroit’s emergency manager released a report from Christie’s auction house on Thursday detailing market estimates for some of the greatest masterpieces in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Art. The estimates – which Christie’s said would total between $454 million and $867 million – cover about 2,800 pieces, or less than 5 percent of the institute’s entire collection because Detroit’s emergency manager, Kevyn D. Orr, asked Christie’s to focus only on pieces that had been bought with city funds over the years, not ones than had been donated or bought with other funds. The museum and its supporters have vowed to go to court to try to stop any sale. [link]

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Eastern Michigan University Students AMP Up the Arts

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS

MICHIGAN---Students enrolled in Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) Arts Management Programs (Undergraduate & Graduate) produce two-day music festivals, art competitions, face and body paint tailgating activities, art crawl events, and reality TV shows as part of an academic service learning project and student organizational activity designed to give members their first experiences as arts administrators. The Arts Management Project (AMP) is a yearly project undertaken by students of the Arts Management program at EMU. The project, which doubles as a student organization, produces arts-based events and creates opportunities for EMU’s student artists to present their talents to the campus community. [link]

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Time to Sell the Family Jewels, Detroit

THE DAILY BEAST
By Nick Gillespie

Photo by Joshua Lott/Reuters

MICHIGAN---Saddled with billions in debt, there's no good reason the city shouldn't sell its art collection worth as much as $866 million. If you really want to make jaws drop in polite conversation, don’t waste your time suggesting that bankrupt Detroit merely stiff its pensioners and creditors harder than John Holmes did his costars in 1976’s Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here. Instead, suggest that the city unload its little-seen yet high-valued art collection hiding in plain sight at The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). As urban theorist Joel Kotkin has put it, “We get it wrong. We think the cultural amenities drives the prosperity [in cities], when it’s really the prosperity that drives the cultural amenities.” [link]

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Foundations Should Not Save Detroit, Including the Institute of Arts

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

"Madonna and Child" by Giovanni Bellini is one of the works in the Detroit Institute of Arts collection.

There are 92,000 reasons why Foundations should not bailout the City of Detroit and the Detroit Institute of Art. All 92,000 are local millionaires, but regrettably Foundations are being pressured to foot the bill of $500 million needed as part of the city’s bankruptcy proceedings. Foundation dollars should not be used to cover municipal or institutional debts. Besides, there is too much other work yet to be done in Detroit to use up 50% of Foundation annual giving on one arts project. On the other hand, local millionaires like A. Paul Schaap, who pledged $5 million; plus the state's taxpayers can and should make this happen, and make it happen quickly.

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Arts Journalism Grants Awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

The critical role of journalism gets lost in many of the national, and local discussions about arts audience development, and that's why yesterday's NEA arts journalism announcement was so significant. This latest round of recipients of Art Works grant awards named Indianapolis as one of only four communities nationwide receiving Art Works grant awards. The four communities are: Ann Arbor, MI ($45,000); Detroit, MI ($30,000); Fort Lauderdale, FL ($25,000); and Indianapolis, IN ($35,000). The awards are a partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and were announced as part of a webinar/press conference led by Sasha Anawalt, associate professor and director of arts journalism programs at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communications.

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Documentary “Detroit Art City” Highlights Financial Crisis at DIA

THE MORNING SUN

"Annunciatory Angel" (1450/1455) by Fra Angelico, a Dominican monk.

MICHIGAN---While the fate of the art collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts is threatened with sale in the city bankruptcy, a new documentary premiering Wednesday sheds light onto the history of one of the top comprehensive art museums on the country. The Detroit Public Television documentary “Detroit Art City,” premiering at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, on WTVS-Channel 56, will provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on the museum. The documentary also will stream live at www.dptv.org/dia. The 60-minute “Detroit Art City” takes viewers behind the scenes at the DIA to trace the museum’s triumphs and challenges through the years. [link]

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Bandits & Saints of Brazil in Detroit Through January 5th

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Candomble Ceremony by Didito of Maracujipe, Bahia. Courtesy of Convida.org.

MICHIGAN---Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History presents the exhibition "Bandits & Heroes, Poets & Saints" which tells the story of how African, European, and indigenous cultural traditions interacted in Brazil for 500 years. The exhibition includes nearly 200 works of art by more than 50 artists, but the most critical part of the exhibition is the "Expressions of Faith," segment. It explores the African-Brazilian religion of Candomblé which combines traditional African roots and Roman Catholicism, while also exploring the evangelical faith of the Northeast. In the exhibition, life-size mannequins of orixás (forged iron symbols of African deities) wearing colorful vestments of Candomblé can be viewed along with actual footage of the Candomblé ceremony in Bahia.

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History: "Bandits & Heroes, Poets & Saints," (Ends January 5, 2014); 315 East Warren Avenue at Brush Street; Detroit, MI; (313) 494-5808; thewright.org

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Christie’s Reveals Detroit Art Appraisal: $866 Million

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Randy Kennedy

“Death on a Pale Horse” (1796) by Benjamin West; Credit 
Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

MICHIGAN---The heart of the world-class collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts would raise somewhere between $452 million and $866 million if sold to help the City of Detroit dig its way out of bankruptcy, Christie’s said Wednesday, announcing the results of a highly anticipated appraisal. Christie’s examination was limited to works that were bought entirely or in part with city funds, because those works could be sold more easily than donated works, for example, whose sale could generate legal challenges. So the appraisal covers only a small part of the collection in terms of numbers — less than 5 percent of the museum’s 66,000 works — but many of the works are among the most important in the collection, by artists like Bruegel, Matisse and van Gogh. While Christie’s did not release estimates for individual works, it did note that 11 works — which it did not name — accounted for 75 percent of the total estimate in its report. [link]

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U of Michigan to Exhibit 11 Centuries of Islamic Art in 'Fragments from the Past'

THE MICHIGAN DAILY
By Giancarlo Buonomo,

Selections from the Islamic Collection of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology.

MICHIGAN---For the next several months, the University of Michigan Museum of Art will exhibit Islamic art that showcases the beauty and complexity of everyday objects from the eighth through the 19th centuries. A collaborative effort. UMMA will host the exhibition of objects from the Kelsey Museum of Architecture in its glass-walled Stenn Gallery. This exhibition is part of the UM Collections Collaborations series, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, where the UMMA showcases the diversity of the University’s art collections. [link]

University of Michigan Museum of Art: "Fragments from the Past: Islamic Art from the Collection of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology," (Nov. 30 until April 13); 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI; (734)764-0395; umma.umich.edu

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Lilly Endowment Awards $3,000 Grant to Michigan College to Study Christianity in Higher Education

MICHIGAN LIVE 
By Brian Vicar

MICHIGAN---Hope College has received a $3,000 grant to study how “different traditions in Christianity can work together within colleges and universities.” The grant, from the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and Arts, aims to support ongoing discussions surrounding “the promise and challenges of genuine ecumenicity in Christian higher education,” according to Hope. [live]

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Detroit Institute of Arts Discovers Rare Painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo at Area University

ARTDAILY

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Infant Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness, ca. 1655–1670,
oil on canvas, 85 x 72 cm. © Meadow Brook Hall, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan.

MICHIGAN---A chance visit to Meadow Brook Hall by a curator from the Detroit Institute of Arts has led to the rediscovery of a significant work by a 17th-century Spanish artist and a unique learning opportunity for Oakland University (OU) art students. Salvador Salort-Pons, DIA executive director of Collection Strategies and Information, and curator of European paintings, was at Meadow Brook Hall in February presenting a lecture when a painting in a dark corner of the room caught his eye; it turned out to be a work by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo entitled "The Infant Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness." Murillo, who was known for his genre scenes and religious works, created the painting around 1670. [link]

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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".

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Caravaggio's 'Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy' on Loan to the Detroit Institute of Arts

MICHIGAN LIVE.COM
By Dustin Block

Caption for attached image: Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, ca. 1595–96; oil on canvas. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund. (DIA )

MICHIGAN---Caravaggio's "Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy" will be on loan to the Detroit Institute of Arts beginning Oct. 10. The painting, considered an early masterpiece of the Italian great, comes to Detroit from the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn. It will be on display at the DIA through Jan. 13. "Saint Francis" will be displayed next to the DIA’s own Caravaggio painting, "Martha and Mary Magdalene," also considered one of his finest masterpieces. These two 16th-century paintings demonstrate Caravaggio’s proficient rendering of form and his deep spiritual and emotional sense of the Christian faith. [link]

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ArtPrize 2013 Top 10 Announced

GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By John Serba

"Myth or Logic" by Robin Protz, one of the most popular Top 10 for 2013

MICHIGAN---Half of the artists in ArtPrize 2013's Top 10 popular entries are veterans of the competition, one of them celebrating his third time as a finalist. The Top 10 finalists, culled from 429,180 votes cast by 43,701 voters, were announced Sunday afternoon by ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos, during a ceremony at Rosa Parks Circle. The second round of voting began at 2 p.m. today, and will end at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4. [link]

Here's a breakdown of the Top 10:

1. Paul Baliker, Palm Coast, Fla. - "Dancing with Mother Nature" 
2. Anni Crouter, Flint - "Polar Expressed" 
3. Jason Gamrath, Seattle, Wash. - "Botanical Exotica a Monumental Collection of the Rare and Beautiful" 
4. Michael Gard, San Francisco, Calif. - "Taking Flight" 
5. Benjamin Gazsi, Morgantown W.V. - "Earth Giant"
6. Nick Jakubiak, Battle Creek - "Tired Pandas" 
7. Ann Loveless, Frankfort - "Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore" 
8. Robin Protz, New Hartford, Ct. - "Myth-or-Logic" 
9. Andy Sacksteder, Port Clinton, Ohio - "Uplifting" 
10. Fraser Smith, St. Pete Beach, Fla. - "Finding Beauty in Bad Things: Porcelain Vine"

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ArtPrize Entries for Sale: Competition Adds Button for Artists to Sell Work Online

GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

ArtPrize 2013 entry "Ninkasi, the Sumerian Goddess of Beer" inside Founders Brewing Company

MICHIGAN---Artists participating in ArtPrize 2013 naturally hope to go home a winner, though only a handful will share in the $560,000 in prize money. Many of the rest have another financial windfall in mind – getting their work seen, garnering commissions and making a sale. ArtPrize is lending a hand by hanging a "For Sale" sign on its website. Go online to any entry's page on the ArtPrize website. If there's a blue icon with "Inquire" listed on the righthand side, that artist is ready, willing and, now, able to talk about a sale. [link]

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RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS 
By TAHLIB

The Buddha taught that inspiration comes in groups. "The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast," said Buddha. This week, the world's attention focuses on the grouping of over 1,500 artworks from 47 countries. For 19 days in Grand Rapids, Michigan, over 400,000 visitors will descend on this city and vote for their favorite artworks in churches, galleries, museums, banks, bike shops, and even the riverfront. It's not a permanent collection but it is a group moment, and that makes "Tall Buddha" (above) by Philip Lynch at ArtPrize my NEWS OF WEEK.

In other religious art news from across the USA, and around the world:

1. Christian Art of Week: Marc Chagall's Jewish Jesus. [More News]
2. Hindu Art of Week: Manjari Sharma's Hindu Deities. [More News]
3. Islamic Art of Week: Canadian Outrage Over Hijab. [More News]
4. Judaic Art of Week: Debut of Jerusalem Biennale. [More News]
5. A&O Prize | News of Week: Nominations Now Open. [Vote 2013]

It's more than Art. It's Religion. We are believers (and skeptics too), united in the search for human meaning through art from the religious imagination. We believe in the artists and craftsman who dare to explore religious themes through their creativity. When you believe, you join other believers. Some of us join the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts as dues-paying members; others support the A&O Prize - Youth Scholarships as donors; most subscribe to this "free" weekly newsletter (or follow on: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook or Soundcloud). All are welcome. Join us. 

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Vandalism Hits Grand Rapids Artist's Noah's Ark ArtPrize Entry

GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By Angle Jackson

Adele Vanocker said her entry called "Calm before the storm!" was vandalized. A paper mache dove was stolen from a window of the ship crafted from an old boat and wood. (Angie Jackson)

MICHIGAN---On Adele Vanocker's Noah's Ark ArtPrize entry aimed at spreading a message of faith, she dedicated a dove made of paper mache and Styrofoam to her late husband. The Grand Rapids artist was slightly discouraged to discover someone apparently stole the dove - a symbol of love. Vanocker said the sculpture was snatched from the installment outside of First United Methodist Church on either Thursday, Sept. 19, or the night before.[link]

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ArtPrize 2013: Why I Voted for 1,427 Amazing Works of Art

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Greg Disney-Britton

"Tall Budda" is at a courtyard of amazing outdoor works, and I voted for him.

Okay, I admit to being skeptical about enjoying 3-days at an artfair in the town of Grand Rapids, MI, but I loved this! I voted for 1,427 works of the art (real number later); and I wanted more time to see and vote for more! The Editorial Board for Grand Rapid's Press wrote: "As the voting for this year’s ArtPrize Top 10 heats up, it’s a good time to remember the biggest winner of this unique competition" is the Grand Rapid's community, but I disagree. The biggest winner was me.

Artist painting scene of The Last Supper
at entrance to Gerald Ford Museum (I voted for him)

There are over 1,500 pieces of artwork entered into the Artprize competition, but what makes this so much fun is my ability to vote, it's free but you have to go to Grand Rapids to register (smart!). I feel like I am in the driver seat for awarding over $560,000 in cash prizes, including $200,000 for first prize.

I found this sleeping giant fishing by the river (I voted for him).

There is no jury to say this artist-is-in, and this artist-is-out. Everyone is in, and the venues are everywhere. I voted for artwork in a gay bar, a Baptist church, a shoe store, an ice cream shop, a hospital, and the list goes on and on.

I was scared "not" to vote for her, and she was at a church.

Many of the pieces are large scale but many are also small scale, and the venues are negotiated between the artist and the venue host. For example, Kilwins Ice Cream picks their favorite artists and so does the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Everyone has an equal chance at display and at winning the grand prize of $200,000.

Ernest made me pose, but I voted for him.

I made Ernest pose, and I voted for him.

The interactive experience of this artfair is thrilling. It's like American Idol where there is really nothing to sell or buy, but there are lots of commercials. Traditionally, when I think artfair, I think of a booth with pressure to buy something from the poor artist hawking his ware, but this is not about commerce, it's about democracy and philanthropy engaged as one.

It's a pencil drawing, and at the end people will erase it.  I voted for it.

The art is everywhere you look (169 venues), and everytime you think you've seen it all....We'll you've not even come close. I mean, we stayed at the Holiday Inn and there was art in the lobby and on the front lawn. How I possibily voted for 1,427 I am not sure but that's what I counted up, and I did vote for a lot. This is not an art lover event, this is a "fun" lovers event, and my vote cost me nothing but it helped the artist get one step closer to winning one of the ARTprizes ($5,000 to $200,000).

It's Beeswax, and I voted for it.

I'll have to create a Pinterest and Tumblr account for all my pictures. It's insane the number of pictures I've taken. The ones listed here are just the ones where I'm included.

I love Milk Duds, and I voted for it. 

My favorite venues for artworks included the Calder Plaza where Quincy Owens had his piece "Confessions" which is across the street from the DeVoos Convention Center, which is filled to the maxiimum with artworks.

There were lots of serious themes here, and I voted for this one.

We were there for two nights, and three days (Arrived opening day on Sept. 18), so we could beat the crowds, and the hotel room-rate increases. Over 400,000 people are expected over the 19 days of the ARTprize festival.

Third floor of the contemporary art institute

Upon closer examination on 2nd floor

Yes, I voted for this one too.

There is no reason, that every artist I know shouldn't be part of ARTprize. It's a win for everyone. Congratulations to Grand Rapids, and thanks! I'm looking forward to finding out the winners, but also to returning next year for ARTprize2014. My real vote count? 122, but it seemed like 1,427.

More than 64 ways to vote here.

ArtPrize 2013 from ArtPrize on Vimeo.

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Controversial Artist SinGh, Booted Out of ArtPrize 2012 for Saddam Hussein Effigy, is Kicked Out Again

GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

MICHIGAN---Artist SinGh, whose controversial installation of an effigy of Saddam Hussein was torn down shortly before the opening of ArtPrize last year, returned to ArtPrize 2013. And now he's out again. Artist SinGh's ArtPrize 2013 entry, "The World's Longest Painting," intended for Sixth Street Bridge Park, was removed before opening day of the fifth annual exhibition and competition. The problem, according to ArtPrize officials is the artist flagrantly disregarded the rules by expanding the scope of the project beyond the original, signed agreement, without permission. Last year, Gilmore, who had hosted SinGh's work the previous two years, summarily removed the installation titled "Captivity," concerned that SinGh's storyboards accompanying it alluded to bestiality, suicide and similar topics. After recovering "Captivity," SinGh later set fire to the installation in protest over its removal. [link]

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Six Steps to Making the Most of ArtPrize

PURE MICHIGAN

MICHIGAN---If you’ve never explored the unique buildings or graced the diverse streets of Grand Rapids during ArtPrize, you may be wondering where to start. No worries, there are few simple things you can do to make visiting the world’s largest art competition simple, fun and inspiring. Todd Herring, Director of Communications for ArtPrize, shares these steps with us below. [link]

• Step 1 – Get Inspired
• Step 2 – VOTE!
• Step 3 – Keep Moving
• Step 4 – Stay in the know
• Step 5 – Attend ArtPrize Events
• Step 6 – Make it Your Own.

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