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LTAC announces ninth annual competition for artists with disabilities

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Artists must register by April 21.

May Ann Sabo

LTAC Arts President

 

Legacy Trust Award Collection is giving adult artists with disabilities a chance to win $500, have their artwork displayed in the Grand Rapids Art Museum and enter ArtPrize 2018.

 

Back for its ninth year, the Legacy Trust Award Collection is soliciting artwork from Michigan artists for its beloved mini-competition in advance of ArtPrize. Four winning artists will each receive $500 and sponsorship for ArtPrize, the international art competition, scheduled this year Sept. 19 through Oct. 7 in downtown Grand Rapids.

 

The statewide competition is open to all Michigan artists with disabilities and seeks paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, collages, mixed media and other works of art. The four winners will be chosen by popular vote, a panel of celebrity judges and the LTAC Advisory Committee. Four winning artists will also be entered in ArtPrize 2018.

 

Artists must register with LTAC by Saturday, April 21 to be considered for the 2018 competition.

 

The Grand Rapids Art Museum will host the LTAC May 14 and 15.

This year, LTAC Arts will be hosting a Saturday workshop for interested artists on April 21. The workshop will feature parallel sessions on how to market, value and use social media to promote artwork session, along with special needs planning sessions for families and caregivers.

 

Sponsored by Grand Rapids-based investment advisory and wealth management firm Legacy Trust, LTAC will be held this year in the Grand Rapids Art Museum May 14-15. A private reception for all artists, judges and LTAC supporters will be held on the evening of Monday, May 14.

 

The public will have a chance to view and vote for its favorite entry on Tuesday, May 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the GRAM, located in downtown Grand Rapids.

 

Winning artists will have their work displayed during ArtPrize at DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids. Last year, 141 artists from around the state submitted artwork to LTAC, its eighth straight year of growth.

 

“We are so excited for our ninth year of LTAC, especially given the past two years being in the triple digits in artwork submissions,” said Mary Ann Sabo, chair of LTAC Arts, the nonprofit arm that supports the event. “Each year, we are amazed by the talent of the artists and the creativity and skill of their work, as well as by the stories of the artists and their families.

 

“We are thrilled to welcome artists from all over our state. We are so pleased to again partner with the Grand Rapids Art Museum and DeVos Place for a fifth year as we showcase incredible Michigan artists.”

 

Winners of LTAC 2018 will be announced on Friday, May 25. Along with having their artwork entered into ArtPrize, all entry fees and promotion expenses for ArtPrize will be paid by LTAC Arts. For the fifth year, LTAC Arts has secured the high-profile DeVos Place venue for the winning artists during ArtPrize.

 

Artists from all genres are invited to participate in the competition. All artists must submit an artist registration to Sabo PR by April 21. All artwork must be completed and available for showing in Grand Rapids by noon on Saturday, April 21.

 

Following is a list of guidelines for submitting artwork:

 

  • All participating artists must be a resident of Michigan and at least 18 years of age by April 3.
  • All artwork must be original, attributable to the applicant and completed within three years prior to September 18, 2018.
  • All artwork is subject to the “Official Rules for Artists-ArtPrize,” which can be found at www.artprize.org.
  • The top four artists will retain ownership and all rights to their artwork, subject to the rules and restrictions of ArtPrize 2018. The artists agree to make themselves and their artwork available to LTAC and all partnering agencies and sponsors prior to and during ArtPrize for promotions and marketing efforts.
  • The top four artists who receive the award will be entered into ArtPrize 2018 as a Legacy Trust Award Collection winner.
  • LTAC artists agree that if their artwork wins any ArtPrize award, they will donate 25 percent of any award to create a special LTAC Arts Endowment Fund to continue arts programs for adults with disabilities in greater Grand Rapids.
  • Winning artists will be notified by LTAC Arts by May 25 and will be entered into ArtPrize.
  • There are no restrictions on artists who are not part of the Collection from entering ArtPrize on their own.

 

Artwork may be delivered by mail, UPS, FedEx or in person to Sabo PR, 401 Hall St. SW, Suite 463, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49503 by noon on April 21. See the registration form for additional rules and details at www.LTACArts.org.

 

LTAC Arts will host its workshop on Saturday, April 21, the last day art can be submitted. The workshop will take place at Sabo PR in Grand Rapids. Artwork can be brought to the session and submitted.

 

ArtPrize, an open art competition that draws hundreds of thousands of people to West Michigan each fall, returns to Grand Rapids for its tenth year on Sept. 19 through Oct. 7.

 

More information on LTAC is available at www.LTACArts.org. Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LegacyTrustAwardCollection and on Twitter with #LTAC. Call 616.649.2818 with questions.

 

Presenting sponsor is Legacy Trust with additional support from Sabo PR, Meijer, Grand Rapids Art Museum, DeVos Place, Trivalent Group, Holland Litho, Kitchen Sage and Andrews, Hooper & Pavlik.

 

About LTAC Arts

The Legacy Trust Award Collection is an art competition for adult artists with disabilities. The competition is held in advance of ArtPrize each year, the radically open art competition in downtown Grand Rapids. Each year the artists are so excited to participate and LTAC Committee is always amazed by the talent of the artists. LTAC gives artists who typically wouldn’t have the chance to showcase their art, a way to show the West Michigan community their incredible work.

Denise Kolesar: Wife, Mother, Fire Baton Twirler

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Denise Kohler-Kolesar
Denise Kohler-Kolesar

By Tom Rademacher

 

For nearly 20 years, Denise Kohler-Kolesar of Kohler Expos has been following a magic formula of connecting with people on a personal level. This mantra endears her to legions of businesses and individuals eager to showcase their products and services at any one of eight expos Denise and husband, Brian, stage in Lansing and Grand Rapids.

 

And constantly seeking signs from above doesn’t hurt, either.

 

“Every big decision I make, I pray about it,” says Denise, “and if I don’t get an answer, I don’t do it.”

 

Such faith was instilled in her as a child, growing up the fifth of eight children raised by Bernard and Mary Kohler in the Eastern Michigan town of North Branch.

 

“My dad was in the insurance business, and later served as mayor, then owned other businesses with his brothers – a grocery store, car wash, movie theaters. And there was an intentional concept – to employ their children so they always had a job.”

 

In fact, Denise remembers being responsible for her own expenses as far back as the fourth grade, when she started pitching in to earn her way. “There was work if you wanted it, and if you didn’t work, you didn’t get anything.”

 

That work ethic stuck. So, too, did a penchant for serving others. And it began close to home, and at an early age.

 

“My father had a heart attack at 37, and later a stroke, so I became his right-hand person. I was expected to open the insurance office, and I’d visit him bedside in the evening to find out what to do the next day.”

 

Bernard continued to serve his community as county commissioner, even while partially paralyzed. Denise’s challenges were compounded when her mother contracted cancer. For five years, she and her siblings – now grown and scattered throughout four states – rotated to spend time at the homestead, caring for their parents. They died 12 weeks apart.

 

To this day, they serve as her greatest role models and mentors, because they handed down to her the value not only of hard work, but the rewarding ripple effects that emanate from investing in people.

 

“Contributing to community has always been a part of my life,” Denise says, “helping to make things happen for others.”

 

In high school, she was the over-achiever who scored reasonable grades and also served as cheerleader and drum major, mastering the art of twirling batons while they were on fire. “One of these days, I have to haul those batons out,” she says. “I think I’ve still got ‘em.”

 

Denise admits she was a goody two-shoes during her schooldays, and that meant standing up to bullies. “I would have never stood on the sidelines if someone was being teased,” she says. “I’m not a big person – I stand but 5 foot – but I didn’t care. I stood up to people.”

 

She stands up for her country as well. “I used to make our kids say the Pledge of Allegiance before school, and because the neighbor kids gathered on our porch in the morning, they said it, too.”

 

After graduating North Branch High School in 1979, Denise freelanced as a court reporter for two years. At one point, her work ethic nearly did her in. “I worked on my wedding day,” she says. “A firm needed me, and I couldn’t say no. I worked in my wedding dress. And for those two years, I worked 90 hours a week.”

 

Mercifully, she left that job and signed on with John Loeks, serving as his personal assistant, learning the movie theater and trade show business.

 

It was prayer that convinced her to start her own business in 1998 – Kohler Expos – involving her husband, Brian Kolesar, as partner. Their first venture together was a Women’s Expo in Lansing. Over time, they’ve extended their reach through a total of eight annual shows – two Women’s Expos, three Bridal Shows, a Kids & Family Expo, and a pair of West Michigan Mom’s Sales that debut in Grand Rapids each spring and fall.

 

Preparing for those eight dates is a year-long task that requires complicated networking and precision planning. And being consumed by a quest for perfection, Denise is constantly seeking ways to improve the shows and its offerings.

 

In what little spare time she has, Denise enjoys spending time with family at the home in North Branch, now owned by a sister who keeps a bedroom intact for everyone who ventures back for visits.

 

She and Brian also own an 80-acre farm just outside the town where she grew up, and it boasts a barn refurbished by Amish craftsmen that now serves them as a country getaway. She calls it their “Babin,” because it’s “part barn, part cabin.”

 

These days, though, she’s attending to the upcoming Women’s Expo in Grand Rapids, set for March 11-13 at DeVos Place, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. The Spring Bridal Show runs concurrently at the same location March 12-13.

 

For a full slate of offerings at both – and a closer look at the other shows featured throughout the year – visit KohlerExpo.com.

 

And keep your eyes peeled for a diminutive woman throwing flames. “I was really something in the dark,” she says with a laugh – “twirling that baton on fire, marching with folks who had flashlights taped to their ankles.”

 

This story is reprinted with permission from SaboPR.