This holiday season, the Holland Area Arts Council is reprising their partnership with Grand Rapids Ballet in two special performances for children ages 4 to 10 and their adult guests on Sunday, Nov. 17th. The gallery will be filled with the enchanting giggles of children as they experience the magic of music, dance and storytelling. Performances will be held at 12:30 and 2:30pm.
The Nutcracker Ballet Tea is a story-time brunch in a winter fairy-tale land of ballerinas, nutcrackers and toy soldiers. Members of Grand Rapids Ballet Junior Company will dance vignettes from The Nutcracker as Attila Mosolygo, Junior Company Artistic Director reads The Nutcracker story. The performance includes tea, delicious snacks and a box of treats for each child to enjoy.
Children live in a world of imagination and play. The line between reality and pretend has not yet been drawn. They involve themselves in performance physically, mentally and emotionally, and so the Arts Council is excited to expose the very young to live performance featuring other young performers.
Partnership with Grand Rapids Ballet, who provides the dancers in costume, makes this event truly special.
Tickets for the Nutcracker Ballet Tea are on sale now. Admission is $35 per ticket. Children 10 and under get in for $15 each.
Tickets to Grand Rapids Ballet’s The Nutcracker Dec. 13-15 and 20-22 performances at DeVos Performance Hall may be purchased online at grballet.com or by calling (616) 454-4771 x10.
Visitors look over last year’s Festival Artwork Competition pieces.
Tulip Time and the Holland Area Arts Council has announced the 2020 Festival Artwork Competition will run Oct. 2 – 5.
Through the competition a work of art is selected for the official Tulip Time poster. Each year, the Holland Area Arts Council invites a juror to select the Top 20 pieces. John Berry, former vice president of corporate communications at Herman Miller, will be the 2020 juror. Berry comes with years of experience, as the founder and first executive director of Design West Michigan and founder and first director of the Design Thinking Academy at Grand Valley State University. Barry has a master’s degree in design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BS in Design and Spanish from Indiana University.
Until 2011, posters were commissioned work from selected artists. Since transitioning into a Festival Artwork Competition, nine local artists have been awarded this honor:
2011 Beth Charles – “Drama Queens”
2012 Brittany Strabbing – “Beautiful Dream”
2013 Maggie Schultz – “Clothed in Splendor”
2014 Karin Nelson – “Resilience”
2015 Carolyn Stich – “Joy of Spring”
2016 Alla Dickson – “Spectacle”
2017 Michele Gort – “Playful Time”
2018 Cindy Awrey – “Together”
2019 Carolyn Stich – “Enduring Delft”
Submissions for the 2020 Festival Artwork Competition will be accepted Oct. 2-5, 2019. The artwork theme should represent Tulip Time’s mission to celebrate Holland’s community today, tulips and Dutch heritage. The winner of the 2020 competition will be announced at a reception celebrating Tulip Time’s artists, which will be held in February.
To view the submission forms and full entry requirements, please pick up a prospectus from the Tulip Time Festival Office or the Holland Area Arts Council. The prospectus can also be found online at https://tuliptime.com/festivalartwork and www.hollandarts.org.
For additional details, artists are encouraged to contact Mary Sundstrom at 616-396-3278 or mary@hollandarts.org.
The 91st Tulip Time Festival is set for May 2 – 10.
The Holland Area Arts Council (150 E. 8th St., Holland, MI 49423) presents Seeing Through Dutch Eyes, an exhibition featuring the work of Dutch-American artist Chris Stoffel Overvoorde beginning Friday, Jan. 11 with an opening reception at 6pm.
Seeing Through Dutch Eyes, recognizes a natural pattern. Overvoorde was born in the Netherlands (Capelle aan de IJssel) to two Dutch parents. It is therefore essential to recognize, that the artist, can only see through the eyes he has been given at birth. But, it is not just the mechanics of seeing, that is important, it is also the cultural and spiritual vision that will modify his perception of the world.
Overvoorde left the Netherlands at age of 22 and is now 84, which means he has lived 62 years in the US and yet he is still a Dutchman in the way he looks at this world. The exhibition is divided into several components: ‘Early Years/The Shipyard’, ‘Learning Period/Drawing’, ‘Transitions/Acrylic and Oil Paintings’, and ‘Self Portraits’.
The artist grew up with the sounds of the shipyard. His grandpa den Braber and his uncles Dirk, Jan, and Chris were ship-carpenters. From age 14, he worked in a large shipyard as a metalworker and later as a diesel mechanic. Shipbuilding was an integral part of his growing up. Many of his early works are drawings.
Today, drawing is an essential part of his creative process for it is the basis for his paintings. He almost always starts by making a drawing first and then works from the drawing. Drawing is a way of learning, of seeing, of discovering, and a way of defining.
Watercolor has become a playful exploration in capturing the rain loaded clouds of the Dutch skies when he returned for a study period and studied the Dutch 19th Century landscape painters in the late ’70s.
Later, the switch to acrylic and oil followed as he began to explore the Midwest landscape and sky in the 1980s, searching for the spiritual in nature. That search continues in the 90 in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada on the edge of the mountains and the open spaces of the prairie. Space and light have become his companions.
The last works in the flow of the exhibit are explorations of these Dutch eyes that look at this world with the mind and soul of a Dutchman and smiles in between.
The exhibit will open with a reception on Friday, Jan. 11 from 6-8pm complete with light snacks and refreshments. The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 25. The opening reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public.
This holiday season, the Holland Area Arts Council is reprising their partnership with Grand Rapids Ballet in two special performances for children ages 4 to 10 and their adult guests on Sunday, Nov. 18th. The gallery will be filled with the enchanting giggles of children as they experience the magic of music, dance, and storytelling. Performances will be held at 1pm and 3:30pm.
The Nutcracker Ballet Tea is a story time brunch in a winter fairy-tale land of ballerinas, nutcrackers and toy soldiers. Members of Grand Rapids Ballet Junior Company will dance vignettes from The Nutcracker as Attila Mosolygo, Junior Company Artistic Director reads The Nutcracker story. The performance includes high tea, delicious snacks and a box of treats for each child to enjoy.
Children live in a world of imagination and play. The line between reality and pretend has not yet been drawn. They involve themselves in performance physically, mentally and emotionally, and so the Arts Council is excited to expose the very young to live performance featuring other young performers.
Photo supplied
Partnership with Grand Rapids Ballet, who provides the dancers in costume, make this event truly special.
Tickets for the Nutcracker Ballet Tea are on sale now. Admission is $35 per ticket. Children 10 and under get in for $15 each.
Tickets to Grand Rapids Ballet’s The Nutcracker Dec. 14-16 and 21-23 at DeVos Performance Hall may be purchased online at grballet.com or by calling 616.454.4771 x10.
Call the Holland Area Arts Council at (616) 396-3278, email helpdesk@hollandarts.org, visit hollandarts.org/nutcracker-ballet-tea.html or stop by 150 East 8th Street to learn more about this and other events and reserve your family’s spots! Advance reservations are required.
Tulip Time Festival and the Holland Area Arts Council have announced the 2019 Art in Bloom (AIB) Festival Artwork Competition. Each year, the Holland Area Arts Council invites a juror to select the Top 20 pieces for AIB. Kristin Jass Armstrong, Executive Director of the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, will be the 2019 juror.
Until 2011, posters were commissioned work from selected artists. Since AIB transitioned into a Festival Artwork Competition, eight local artists have been awarded this honor:
2011 Beth Charles – “Drama Queens”
2012 Brittany Strabbing – “Beautiful Dream”
2013 Maggie Schultz – “Clothed in Splendor”
2014 Karin Nelson – “Resilience”
2015 Carolyn Stich – “Joy of Spring”
2016 Alla Dickson – “Spectacle”
2017 Michele Gort – “Playful Time”
2018 Cindy Awrey – “Together”
Artists in Ottawa, Allegan, Kent, Muskegon, and Kalamazoo counties are invited to submit artwork. Submissions for the 2019 Festival Artwork Competition will be accepted from Sept. 29 through Oct. 4. The artwork theme should represent Tulip Time’s mission to celebrate Holland’s tulips, Dutch heritage and community with special consideration to our 90th festival theme: ‘join the dance as we paint the town orange!’ The winner of the 2019 competition will be announced at First Bloom, a special unveiling reception held in February.
To view the submission forms and full entry requirements, please pick up a prospectus from the Tulip Time Festival Office or the Holland Area Arts Council. The prospectus can also be found online at www.tuliptime.com/artinbloom and www.hollandarts.org.
For additional details, artists are encouraged to contact Mary Sundstrom at (616) 396-3278 or mary@hollandarts.org.
The Tulip Time Festival Guide is now available offering complete details for the 2018 program. Festival Guides can be viewed online or you can request a copy at www.tuliptime.com/join.
Join the dance as we paint the town orange in celebration of Dutch Culture, Community and Tulips at the 90th Tulip Time Festival May 4–23, 2019.
The Holland Area Arts Council is excited to offer a variety of workshops and classes for adults this summer, featuring instructors who are masters in their craft. Classes offered include Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign classes, a four-week Alla Prima Portrait oil painting class, a four-day watercolor painting masterclass, and two bread workshops.
Newest to our roster is a series of Adobe classes offered by Zeeland-based instructor McCoy Khamphouy. In the introductory Adobe Photoshop class, students will learn how to edit photos like the pros and more! Photoshop allows you to make photo collages, paint, and alter images to create original artwork. Khamphouy’s next course delves into Adobe Illustrator. This course is ideal for those who want to learn how to create logos and illustrations for use in print and web design. Adobe Illustrator allows users to make crisp, vector images for brand and product development. The final course in this series is an introduction to Adobe InDesign, which is perfect for those interested in creating flyers, brochures, and publication layouts. All of the Adobe classes are for ages 14 and up, and offered Tuesday evenings from 6-8 pm. Tuition is $120 ($110 for Arts Council members). Dates are as follows: Adobe Photoshop: July 24, 31, August 7. Adobe Illustrator: September 11, 18, 25. Adobe InDesign: October 9, 16, 23.
Next month, the Arts Council is happy to welcome back award-winning instructor Candice Chovanec for an Alla Prima Portrait Painting in Oil class. Alla Prima painting, or wet into wet, is a stimulating method which teaches you to be present in every brush stroke, focusing on only the essentials. This course will instruct students on painting the model from life. This class is for ages 16 an up and runs for four weeks on Saturdays, August 4-25, from 9 am- 12 pm. Tuition is $185 ($180 for members).
The Arleta Pech Watercolor Workshop Masterclass will demonstrate nationally known artist Arleta Pech’s process for creating dazzling and detailed watercolor paintings. Students will learn to artfully set up a still life with objects as well as how to use the Harmonic Armature on complicated still lifes. Arleta will then demonstrate watercolor techniques on glazing to build values and dark backgrounds that were seen in her book “Painting Fresh Florals in Watercolor” published in 1998 and sold over 35000 copies. Offered to ages 18 and up, this four-day workshop is $385 ($375 for members) from 9 am- 4 pm on Monday-Thursday, September 17-20.
In our Easy Artisan No-Knead Bread Workshops, instructor Ken Freestone will show you how to make bread at home with simple tools and ingredients, store your dough for up to two weeks, and have dough ready to bake (bread, pizza, Naan, rolls and more) in the time it takes to heat your oven! No experience is necessary, and all participants will taste samples, bake bread, make dough, and leave with a fresh loaf of bread to take home. Students ages 16 and up can choose from two dates for this workshop, August 27 or October 8. Tuition is $65 ($55 for members).
For more information regarding the above courses, or to view a complete listing of the Arts Council’s offerings, please visit hollandarts.org or call (616) 396-3278. Students can register for classes online at hollandarts.org, call to pay over the phone, or stop by to sign up in person.
The Holland Area Arts Council is a nonprofit organization working to educate, engage and challenge the community through the arts. The Arts Council is located at150 East 8th Street. Call (616) 396-3278, email helpdesk@hollandarts.org or visitwww.hollandarts.org for more information.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Holland Arts Council presenting their statewide art competition, and the Arts Council plans to begin their 50th Anniversary celebrations with the opening of MI Arts.
Artists 18 and over from all over the state submit up to three works of art each. A juror narrows the submissions, and the resulting work is exhibited in the Arts Council’s Padnos and Armstrong Galleries. The Arts Council does this to fulfill their mission to educate, engage and challenge the community through the arts.
For MI Arts 2017, the Arts Council presents Jay Constantine as juror. Constantine pulls from art, history, science and magic to create thought highly detailed, thought-provoking pieces. He has been teaching painting at Kendall College of Art and Design for 36 years and was instrumental in creating the undergraduate painting major and the MFA in painting. He shows at galleries locally and in New York and Chicago. Visit jayconstantineart.com for more information and to view his artwork.
Constantine was tasked with narrowing down the entries to curate an exhibition of painting and drawing, wood and ceramic sculptures, photographs, prints, fiber and other media including kinetic and installation work. Artists submitted 194 pieces, and Constantine selected 80 to be included in the exhibition.
Light refreshments and snacks will be served at the opening reception with the artists and juror on Friday, August 25th from 6-8 pm. Constantine will announce first, second and third places as well as honorable mentions and discuss his selections. The opening and exhibition are free and open to the public. The exhibition will be on display through November 4th.
This summer, have your child explore his or her creative side. The Holland Area Arts Counciloffers Fine Arts Camps for all ages, grades 3 through 12.
The classic 8th Street Fine Arts Camp for grades 3-6 will explore the artwork of Yayoi Kusama, the Polka Dot Queen, and draw inspiration from her vibrant colors, polka dots and infinity rooms. Another quilting camp for grades 5-8 will explore the quilts of modern master Nancy Crow, and each student will again bring home pieced and tied quilt!
The newest addition to the Fine Arts Camps this summer is The Joy of Painting, a teen workshop intensive that will give students grades 9-12 a taste of art school. They’ll learn how to prepare a canvas or board, plan a painting, learn new techniques, gain an understanding of brushes, tools and mediums and finish the week with a peer critiques and a mini exhibition of their work.
The Arts Council offers a Clay Camp every year and have grown the program this summer with five camps, including all-new clay, colors and processes and an awesome new teacher. Grades 3-6 can join Mary Wolter, the Arts Council’s ceramics instructor, to make whistles, games, clay self-portraits, wind chimes — and also learn to use the wheel. The Arts Council is also offering a clay workshop for grades K-2 so the little ones get a chance to play in the mud.
Eat with Your Eyes Cooking Camps are back, too. This summer, grades 3-6 can choose between two culinary camps learning to cook a full day’s worth of food or exploring cuisine from Mexico, Italy and Asia. Kids learn to cook from scratch in these camps and leave with a folder of recipes and the skills to try them at home.
Students will meet at the Holland Area Arts Council each day at 150 East 8th Street in Downtown Holland. Call 616.396.3278 or go here for more information and to register.
Register early! Space is limited and camps fill up fast.
