Category Archives: ArtPrize

On an early September morning, the sunrise sleeps in just a little bit longer.

This morning is different than yesterday’s; this morning brings a loud silence that cuts directly into the morning steam rising from the waters as the crisp air is now cooler than the water temperatures. Hundreds of bodies wait for their cue, standing at the edge, trying not to shiver too hard. As the official lets them go, several in the pack start to hop with impatience before they can reach the water. They want to break the silence.

Like an oil slick, the pack elongates and thins out; in the golden morning light the bodies form a single element. The oil slick looks to be boiling and is spreading through a major portion of the water surface.

Slowly, as the slick starts the approach back, the silence is replaced with soft grunts, gasps and splashing as the pack gets tired. Looking low over the water, the only visual interrupting the repetition of reaching arms, is an occasional head looking for direction – but all they immediately see is feet in front and shoulders to the side. They decide to just go.

This chaos is a beautifully orchestrated mess.

This has been a very intense few weeks. Life as a creative and life as a corporate schmuck really stepped up there game. ArtPrize is in town and is running into it’s third week. Yesterday my wife and I had to schedule our calendar to actually come home for the day.

My day job is proving tougher than I ever imagined – the learning curve in the new department is proving a tough challenge; plus I’m so far from the actual rewarding portion of the work that I’m subconsciously letting myself learn it slowly. I’ve been ‘talked to’ on more than one occasion. Not threatened, just encouraged. Encouragement is good, it has helped immensely – it has also made me step up my game and get more done each day.

For now I am only going to summarize my personal experiences with ArtPrize so far. I touched on it a bit on my photo blog, but I have had a completely different experience than I did for ArtPrize 2009. The restaurant vs. open space concept has proven to be more rewarding towards the open space. Where they each have there place, getting 100 new faces in front of the work every few minutes vs. 55 new faces every hour is a measure that is clearly an advantage. Also being able to speak directly to the people instead of interrupting meals constantly has proven very rewarding. I’m still proud of last year’s work and frankly think it would have held up just fine in this year’s venue – but am happy with my laid back approach. I will post another entry that is dedicated …