UPDATES! The first former Cirque A Circa member to get started early on their entry for the 2011 ArtPrize competition is artist and builder Myke Amend. Myke’s new project -the Infernal Device- is a massive wind powered sculpture made of re-purporsed/recycled metal and odd parts. He’s working with craftsman Steve Brooks and steam engine builder Todd Cahill. The trio have begun their fund-raising and already secured a donated spot to build their piece. Click on Myke’s artwork below to learn more about the project, their mission statement and how you can take part in its creation…
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Cirque A Circa, ArtPrize 2010 – Who we are and what we did:
Cirque A Circa was a collective of six artists, performers and builders who set out to create a vintage, neo-victorian themed circus entry for the 2010 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids Michigan. The original designs for their entry was half a football field size circus style exhibit that was decorated with the artistic creations of her artists, to be stocked with the performances of a variety of participating performers and musical acts, surrounded by two murals -one running along the back of the exhibit and one underfoot. Throughout our quirky little steampunk’d show were to be a variety of exhibits, shadowboxes and personal art rooms belonging to the individual members. The original entry model for this circus can be seen in the scrapbook below. Most importantly the exhibit was to put forth one very important message: art as therapy and healing and how such things kept the individuals of this group going throughout rather difficult paths in life.
Sadly the final exhibit as it was originally designed by the group was not to be. Insurance issues could not be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved so that the group could begin their building of the entry. When the last insurance issue was finally settled it found us entering our sponsored space a day before the start of ArtPrize. Quitting has never really been an option for anyone involved, so we simply changed the shape of our idea. Much of our entry’s artwork and pieces were split up and moved to different destinations. One Girl’s Treasure hosted a variety of our artwork and allowed our steampunk circus designs to decorate their store windows. The art event Destination1111 offered space for one of the murals and more of the group’s art as well as taking some of our performances to their event. The SteamPIg project gave quite a bit of support and also offered us a little space to display some of our artwork around their headquarters where they were building their strange and marvelous steam powered ship. The B.O.B. also gave us two Saturday afternoons worth of stage space for our circus performances and our Gypsy Nomads concert. As for our actual sponsored ArtPrize space we changed our project to that of actively creating the floor mural from our original design as ArtPrize took place. This allowed individuals to come down to our space and actually watch us working on the massive painting through the three weeks of the event. Our mural can still (for the time being) be seen at the Press lot on Monroe Ave. We were also able to talk to people and tell them what we were doing and why we were doing it.
I think all parties involved will agree that the months we devoted to Cirque A Circa were as taxing and frustrating as they were wonderful and rich. Anyone who was able to get a sample of the group meeting dinners our always gracious house hosts Ted & Kate put on will tell you there are few places in GR better to eat and be entertained. We learned quite a bit from the experience, met a ton of people and for some of us just relocating back to GR we learned that our fair little city has far more to offer than we had previously believed. As we are all friends we still see one another and group together here and there for different events and projects, but as far as Cirque A Circa goes she’s a sleepy little thing that has been catching some Zzzzs after a very long autumn. Whether she’ll wake up again to make another attempt at what we all feel is an incredibly fun idea, who knows. In the meantime our site here serves as a scrapbook for this event and offers access to a few of our projects that some us are trying to keep going, like the Love campaign. Below are our photographs from all the miscellaneous things we took part in for Cirque A Circa. You will also find links to our members, who are each very active in their own areas of creativity. Please take a moment to visit our sponsors, listed to the right -without them we wouldn’t have gotten even half as far as we did. And lastly, touch the Love ambigram to your right to find out more about the Love campaign. Thank you for visiting our site and if you came down to see us this past ArtPrize, thank you for that too!
The original designs for the Cirque A Circa entry
Daredevil Dolls, the Atomic Hoop Troupe, the Boheme
Tribal Belly Dancers, and Zoe Boekbinder at the BOB
Myke, Bethalynne and Bethany’s artwork at Destination 1111
Daredevil Dolls, the Atomic Hoop Troupe,
Satori Circus, and the Gypsy Nomads at the BOB
Painting the mural on the Press Lot
One Girl’s Treasure | Artwork on display & window displays
Our day down at the DAAC where Cirque A Circa won the mini-grant
Sept 3rd | An Ice Cream Social | Fund-raiser
Video collage by Bethany Grenier.
Photographs provided by Bethalynne Bajema and Bethany Grenier.
