A year ago when Jim Waring, the vice mayor of Phoenix, spoke at The Scarlet Cord Exhibit opening during the 2015 Super Bowl, he had a message for the buyers of sex: “We are coming after you.” Listening to the vice mayor, I felt like I was on the set of a Batman movie. According…
Grand Valley State University will be hosting The Scarlet Cord exhibit and film screening in February. This unique event will give insight into the world of human trafficking, while offering hope and ideas for action. Judge T.J. Ackert will speak about the increase of trafficking on local levels. Artist Pamela Alderman, whose work The Scarlet…
To honor fallen soldier Army Spc. Eric Burri, his sacrifice for our country, and his concern for the Iraqi children, his family with the West Michigan community collected 5,000 shoes for the Iraqi children in 2005. This past year Eric’s story and Pamela’s Hometown Hero artwork have inspired other concerned citizens from children as young…
The Gage Academy of Art challenged me to change. For seven hours every day in this Seattle art school, I studied classical portrait drawing followed by private tutoring in figure drawing each evening. Then one day there, a stranger gave me a gift of words. After I ran into an elderly Chinese gentleman in the…
It has been an exciting year—kicking off with an exhibition of The Scarlet Cord during the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl in Phoenix Arizona. Film makers from Colorado Springs flew into Phoenix to capture The Scarlet Cord exhibit and the responses of survivors and visitors. For ArtPrize Seven, my work called Hometown Hero invited…
ArtPrize Seven’s Hometown Hero celebrates our local heroes from the Grand Rapids Police Department, the Grand Rapids Fire Department, and the Kentwood Police Department. Thank you for your service! Hometown Hero also celebrates the leadership and support from the Blue Star Mothers: South Kent MI-191 and Ottawa-North Kent Blue Star Mothers MI-194, and Johnny Brann…
Thank you to the Residential College of Arts and Humanities for hosting Courage Ablaze!