ArtPrize 9

not sure how they recycle them but better than on the street

a work in progress

in the middle of Grand River A protest against the Dakota oil pipeline

Silly me DeVos Learning Center behind me De Vos is now the Secretary of Education whose main focus is to divert public funding to private religious schools

cool quilt

not sure of the message

This owl is all embroidery Couldn't get rid of the glare thus those 2 white lines

Philip screw head sculpture

our royal family

chicken wire lady

See how my new (to me) artistic top matches the backdrop? This top, my new favorite, still had the original $118 price tag. My price $4.20

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to Grand Rapids to enjoy their 3 week outdoor art fair, ArtPrize. Last week, they had a six day streak of 95 and above. Traverse City, which is much further north, was the hot spot for the entire country on one of those days at 96. But yesterday was partly cloudy and 68, perfect for walking all over the place. My usual companion still was on vacation so another of the Moms came with me. I first went to see this 7 years ago in which they had at least twice as many entries. 3 weeks is a long time to stand next to your work trying to convince the crowd to vote for you. The families of the co-founders of Amway pump a lot of money into this event. Amway is a huge pyramid scheme with so-called Christian values. I don't run into many of its adherents anymore, I think they now are mainly overseas, but I don't approve of where they get their money but still I do like ArtPrize and Grand Rapids, our second city even though they decided to double the cost of parking.

How many unusual materials can be used to make art? Barbed wire, chicken wire, pennies, computer keys, nails, painted circus peanuts, legos, computer screen  lines, trash of all sorts were just some of the media we saw. We sat on carefully balanced rocks fashioned into rocking chairs which were surprisingly comfortable. We ate at old fashioned Ladies's Club that was still decorated as if it were the 30s though they decided to add various surprise costs to our bill, probably as we were not members. We found a much better and less expensive bar for dinner and drinks. My one legged Lesbian kick-boxer cocktail set me back only $2. Lots of anti_trump stuff even though we were in the heart of Trumpland (only southeast Michigan is not, which is where I live). A Trump voodoo doll with big pins for participants to stick through him was a favorite. Above is only a bit of what I photographed and it would be impossible to see everything in a day.

Tonight, our Mom's group. I am making a vegan cheesecake. How can cheese be animal free? Because I am using a mix of coconut, raw cashews and avocado flavored with lime, dates and cacao nibs. Took forever to amass the ingredients and they cost way more than the cream cheese normally used. Better taste good. And it is officially 'raw' food as nothing is baked.