ArtPrize: The Story of Rain, Chapter 7; Finishing

ArtPrize Finishing Touches

This was it. Done. Now the sculpture could be secured in place.  ArtPrize was starting in just a few days. What would people think about this piece of art? Would they like it or hate it? Would they praise it or laugh at it?

Too late now to worry. This is the risk that artists take; to put ourselves out there and let the critique begin.

What a relief to be done but what a lot of work was ahead with all of the promotion for ArtPrize. There were lots of events and promotions set in place by Mary Free Bed and now I was committed. Ann helped with the organization and we worked together to promote "Rain" and seek out votes.

We loaded it up in my truck and lined up a bunch of people to help install it. Here's me with the head grounds keeper at Mary Free Bed.

Narumi came to help with the installation. And below is Ann and John helping out.

Anyone who signs up at ArtPrize can vote on each ArtPrize entry. It's free for viewers and you can vote for every single piece either up or down. The winners are determined by the number of up votes and the down votes are stimulus for conversation. Would it work? No one knew.

We do know now that ArtPrize was a huge success because of the public response. There were hundreds of thousands that came out for this event. And anytime you mention the word ArtPrize to anyone a conversation will commence for the next 15 minutes.

Finding a buyer was my main objective and a difficult one. Winning some of the prize for ArtPrize was Ann's objective (even more difficult) but because of her enthusiasm many people at Mary Free Bed started talking about purchasing the sculpture so they could keep it on exhibit.  See a photo and short article about it on my website.
When the dust cleared and ArtPrize 2009 was over The Mary Free Bed Guild started a fund to purchase a bronze version of 'Rain'.

We drew up a contract and scheduled the sculpture to be bronzed in Kalamazoo at the Alchemists Sculpture Foundry. I'll show you the results next. The coloring is much richer than the original shown above.