Winter Adult Art Classes: Sign up TODAY!

VSA is offering three exciting adult art classes this winter:

Choir, Visual Arts, and Theater

1) Graduated Art: Art Explosion! For adults age 18 and up. The cost is $75.00* and includes artist fees and supplies. The class will incorporate various art projects in different visual art forms. Monday nights from 6:30-7:30pm for ten weeks, beginning January 28.

2) Graduated Art Class 2: Theater!
For adults 18 and up who are interested in having fun with acting! Activities in Theater class will include improv games, learning show tunes and dance moves, and acting out various scenes. The cost is $75* and includes artist fees and supplies. Tuesday afternoons from 4:00-5:00pm for ten weeks, beginning January 12.

*$75/class or $100 for both Graduated Art classes

3) Very Special Choir: This is a great opportunity for learning and growing in musical ability while making friends and having fun! For adults 18 and up. Thursdays from 12:30-1:30pm throughout the year. The cost is $60 for Choir from January to May. The choir will begin January 7, and meets at Kuyper College (3333 E Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids).

Contact Katie at 885-5866 or vsaprogram@iserv.net and sign up TODAY!

Support VSA while you Shop!

What if VSA arts of Michigan--Grand Rapids earned a donation every time you searched the Internet?
Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support VSA?

Well, now it can!

www.GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

www.GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order at one of these or other partipating stores through GoodShop (www.GoodShop.com), you'll be supporting your favorite cause.

And if you download the GoodSearch – VSA toolbar, VSA will earn money every time you shop and search online - even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first! Add the VSA arts of Mighigan-Grand Rapids toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/mode/

Thank you for supporting VSA!

Vanguard Academy students create artwork for others enjoyment | wzzm13.com | Grand Rapids, MI

Vanguard Academy students create artwork for others enjoyment wzzm13.com Grand Rapids, MI

Central Students Create with Clay!

Students from Central High School school students have recently begun a year-long pottery residency with teaching artist, Phil Wilson, in which they will learn the art of pottery making while expressing their unique artistic voice. The ten students will engage in the 2 hour art class on the first Friday of every month throughout the school year. This residency will culminate in May with the Central students helping to teach a workshop at Festival Day, 2010!

Decorating the DeVos Children's Hospital

The new DeVos Children’s Hospital is seeking artwork to brighten their halls and VSA student artwork will be included! Twenty of our local VSA classrooms are creating artwork for this very special collaboration. See some of the work being generated for this exciting project.

Graduated Art: Book Making!

This Fall, young adults are coming to VSA each Tuesday night from 6:30-7:30pm and learning the art of making books. This beautiful craft is taught by Book Binder, Wendy Withrow, and has thus far included creating decorative books, making unique paper, crafting nature booklets, and making artistic choices all along the way.Get a sneak peak of some of the beautiful things these artists have created so far through viewing the pictures below.

Early Childhood Family Art and Learn Night

On Tuesday, October 27, over 90 people traveled to Ken-O-Sha Preschool in Grand Rapids for an evening of art and fun hosted by VSA. At the event, these preschoolers and their families listened to stories, created pottery pieces, had their faces painted, played with parachutes, and made beautiful necklaces. It was a wonderful night for teachers, artists, students and volunteers alike!
See our facebook page for more pictures of this event.

Arts and Mentoring: Grand Haven

Students in Grand Haven's transition program (aged 18-26) classrooms are currenlty taking a 9-week watercolor and drawing class with artist, Vickie Morgan. Catch a glimpse of what they've been doing through a few pictures of the classes.

VSA Auction: A Success!

Thank you to everyone who made VSA's Annual Auction such a success! To our countless volunteers, sponsors, auction committee members, artists, our wonderful auctioneer, Judge Sara Smolenski, and of course, all of you who attended: THANK YOU! We truly couldn't have done it without all of you!

And in case you missed Fox 17's story on Friday, check it out HERE

A Very Special Art Auction

VSA's Annual Very Special Art Auction

There are still a few tickets available for VSA's annual Auction at DeVos Place tomorrow, Friday October 16, beginning at 6:30pm.

Come for delicious food, amazing auction items, to hear auctioneer, Judge Sara Smolenski, and to support the work of VSA arts.

Call #616-885-5866 to reserve your tickets.

And check out the 2009 Live Auction items on our website to decide what you'll be bidding on.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Call for Entries

2010 VSA arts International Young Soloists Award
Musicians and vocalists with disabilities, age 25 and under.
Four recipients will each receive $5,000 and perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.For information on how to apply, visit www.vsarts.org/soloists.

Elephant Painting with VSA!

On Thursday, September 24, Van Andel Arena teamed up with the Circus and VSA arts to decorate a city bus with paint. Students from Karen Rashewsky's class at Alger Middle School in Grand Rapids and from the classrooms of Emily Molesta and Lynelle Gears from Appleview Elementary in Sparta journeyed downtown to cover the bus with paint and then handed the rollers and paint brushes to the friendly elephants and watched them finish up.

See colorful pictures below of this exciting event!

Our fearless intern, Nichole, prepares the paints for the elephants (and kids).

The bus: Before

And the fun begins!

Even the clowns came out to paint!

And then the elephants wanted a turn...

The bus: After

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible: the students, their teachers, Van Andel Arena, the circus, and of course, the elephants!

For even more pictures, visit our facebook page.

ArtPrize 2009 Features Several Artists That Are Friends Of VSA

Over the past few weeks, I have been asked about ArtPrize from a number of our friends. Like you, we are excited to see how this revolutionary, international art competition plays out on the Grand Rapids stage.

I am excited to announce that VSA has 16 of our friends competing in this inaugural competition. This is my chance to tell you who they are, where they are showing and how you can vote for them!

Voting:
First, to vote, you must register in person with ArtPrize. They have registration sites throughout the three-mile competition radius and one site at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. (You can find the list on their website at: www.artprize.org)

After you are registered, you can vote on the ArtPrize website, by text message or by I-phone.

The first round of voting is September 23- September 30, 2009. During the first round, you can vote once on each of the 1,262 pieces of artwork in ArtPrize. Your vote can be: YES, I like this artwork or NO, I don’t like this artwork.

The second round of voting is from October 1 – October 9. During the second round, the artwork in the competition will be whittled down to the top 10 entries. During the second week, you can only vote once for your favorite in the Top 10.

The Friends of VSA in ArtPrize:

Artist Name Location Address
Jerry Berta WMCAT 98 East Fulton Street
Mark Bird Front Row 53 Monroe Center Ave, Ste B
Stephen Duren Old Federal Building 155 N Division Ave
Jasna Gopic Alten Place 17 Division Street South
Dennis Grantz WMCAT 98 East Fulton Street
Randall Gornowich Ledyard Building 125 Ottawa Ave NW
Jeff Hage Front Row 53 Monroe Center Ave
Madeline Kaczmarczyk Fountain Street Church 24 Fountain Street NE
Geraldine Kawa-Kurdelski Mel Trotter Ministries 225 Commerce Ave SW
Victoria Marnich-Reynolds Monroe Community Church 800 Monroe Ave, Ste 140
Victoria Mullen Bigby Coffee 146 Monroe Center
Dennis O’Mara The BOB 20 Monroe Ave NW
Marella Poortenga Amway Grand Plaza Hotel 187 Monroe Ave NW
Robert Stewart River House Condominiums 353 Bridge St NW
Stephanie Timmerman Schlatter Ottawa Tavern 151 Ottawa Ave
Phil Wilson Lots O Pots Pottery 645 West Fulton

Have fun with ArtPrize! And if you are downtown, stop and see the VSA co-hosted venue at Riverview Center 645 Front Ave NW.

Fall Programs are Starting!

It is official! VSA’s fall programs start this week. Here is a sneak peak of what we have coming up:

Start with the Arts/ Art Explorations for Early Childhood
We are thrilled to be starting this pilot program with three of our early childhood special education preschools in Grand Rapids: Ken O Sha at Wellerwood, West Leonard and Ridgemoor. Children between the ages of 2-6 years old will explore pottery, puppetry and creative movement with VSA over the next 24 weeks.

Graduated Art: Art Explosion! And *NEW* Graduated Art: Bookmaking
And for adults, our immensely popular Graduated Art classes are back! These classes are open to any adult over the age of 18 that wants to flex their creative muscles and have a lot of fun.

These classes explore the visual arts with adults. In “Art Explosion” students engage in several projects over the course of the semester. And this semester, we are also offering an advanced class, which will explore the art of “bookmaking.”
These classes start the week of September 30, so there is still time to register. If you are interested, contact Katie at #885-5866 or vsaprogram@iserv.net.

Art& Mentoring/ Art Explorations for Transition Students
The school year is kicking off with a special tour of ArtPrize 2009 for our transition students.

After than, different classes will participate in: drumming, pottery, photography, painting, and music. Whew! That is a lot of creative energy.

Very Special Choir
For adults, our fantastic choir is back. Rehearsals start on Thursday September 24, 2009, at Kuyper College’s Dan Vos Chapel.

And meet our new choir director is Erinn Epp. Erinn is a certified music therapist, having studied music therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario, Canada) and New York University. She has worked as a music therapist and educator with people aged 0-103 in a variety of educational, healthcare, and community settings. While living in Princeton, New Jersey, she was a founding member of the music therapy department at Westminster Conservatory, providing music therapy services to individuals with special needs in the context of a community music school. Erinn is also a registered Music Together teacher, and has combined music therapy techniques with the Music Together curriculum in her work with people with autism, developmental delays, attachment disorders, and hearing impairments. Originally from Canada, Erinn has lived and worked in many diverse locations across North America. She is excited to be in Grand Rapids, helping to bring the joy of music participation to people through the VSA. Erinn is also a pianist and vocalist, and loves to perform as well as teach. She lives with her husband and daughter, a very noisy toddler.

Interested in more information about the choir, contact Katie at #885-5866 or at vsaprogram@iserv.net.


Over the year, keep watching our blog for pictures and highlights of our programs.

JOIN US!

We are welcoming 51 artists from around the world entered in ARTPRIZE, the world's largest art prize!

Important Dates

September 23
Opening Day of ArtPrize

September 24
Artists’ reception at Riverview Center!
5:00—8:00 pm
678 Front Ave NW, Grand Rapids
Located on the Southwest Corner of the historic Sixth Street Bridge

Meet the artists, see the artwork, VOTE and make your voice heard.

October 1
Top Ten Artists Announced

October 8
Winner of ArtPrize Announced

October 10
Closing Day of ArtPrize

What is ArtPrize?
ArtPrize is a radically open competition from September 23 - October 10, 2009. Open to any artist in the world who can find space. Open to anybody in Grand Rapids, Michigan who wants to create a venue. Open to a vote from anyone over 16 who attends.


Sponsored by:

CAFE STELLA

Meet one of our FRIENDS- Forest Hills Foods

They are known for their commitment to quality and customer service, that’s right we are talking about Forest Hills Foods, your friendly neighborhood grocery store.

They have a great website that is fun, friendly and easy to use. (http://www.foresthillsfoods.com/). It not only features the normal spots, like weekly ads, but also great resources to help you with your shopping. Need to shop fast? You can plan ahead with the “Browse the Aisles” area, which tells you exactly where to find any product in the store- from diapers to pizza sauce. Need a creative idea for dinner? Try the Forest Hills Foods “recipe of the day” or browse your personal library of recipes that you can save on their website.

The store itself is welcoming. The aisles are easy to navigate and the staff is always friendly and helpful. The food is fresh, from the fun pastas and side dishes in the deli section to the locally grown plump fruits and fragrant vegetables in the produce area. And the store even includes a special area with a mix of table and specialty wines for every occasion.

But what I really like is their commitment to providing gluten free food options. Most stores only have three or four standard products. Not Forest Hills Foods. The store is constantly tasting and adding new products to their aisles. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Bakery Manager, Jason Bajema, for a few suggestions. We just had some fabulous, gluten free chocolate chip cookies the other day.

Forest Hills Foods has been a good friend of VSA for over ten years. They support us in so many ways, from displaying VSA student artwork in their cafe to joining us as one of our valued sponsors for our Annual VSA arts Very Special Art Auction.

Stop in and check out this local gem. They are located at 4668 Cascade Road SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their normal store hours are 7:00 am – 11:00 pm.

Thank you Forest Hills Foods.

Visual Voice Project Art Reception

On Wednesday, August 26 from 1:00-3:00pm, a group of amazing artists displayed their work for all to see at Metro Hospital. Patients on the Assisted Breathing Unit have been working with Teaching Artist, Carol Johnson each Wednesday afternoon over the past 12 months.

These adults have all enjoyed their time with Carol, both for the community and voice it has provided them, and for the beautiful art they have had the opportunity to create. They have created self-reflection collages and poetry, have made intricate prints, constructed mobiles, and much more. Two of the artists learned to paint and draw with mouth pieces and everyone learned new artistic techniques.

The art reception was a wonderful celebration of all the accomplishments and beautiful art that has been created by amazing artists through the Visual Voice Project.

VSA Adult Fall Classes Announced!

We have an exciting line-up for this Fall with various opportunities to fit your interests.

To sign up or for more information, call or e-mail Katie Timmermans at #616-885-5866 or vsaprogram@iserv.net.

1) Graduated Art Advanced Class: Book Making! For adults 18 and up who have taken one or more session of Graduated Art and/or want a more challenging class. The cost is $75 and includes artist fees and supplies. It will meet on Mondays from 5:00-6:00pm for ten weeks beginning September 28.

2) Graduated Art Class: Art Explosion! For adults aged 18 and up. The cost is $75.00 and includes artist fees and supplies. It will meet on Mondays from 6:30-7:30pm for ten weeks beginning September 28.

3) Very Special Choir: This is a great opportunity for learning and growing in musical ability while making friends and having fun! For adults 18 and up. Thursdays from 12:30-1:30pm throughout the year. The cost is $110 for the year (30 sessions). The choir will begin September 24 and meets at Kuyper College (3333 E Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids).

Graduated Art Summer Session Ends

Our summer session of Graduated Art was a smashing success. We had 15 adults in the class, many volunteers, and a wonderful artist, Vickie Reynolds. Projects this session included reverse paintings, sea shell mirorrs, and much more!



The fall session of Graduated Art will begin Monday, September 28 and runs for 10 weeks from 6:30-7:30 each Monday. Please call or e-mail Katie at #616-885-5866 or vsaprogram@iserv.net to sign up and reserve your spot for the fall!