Thank you to everyone who supported Hometown Hero! I’ve never made it this far even after seven years of ArtPrize but I finished as a Top 20 Finalist and 3rd Place in the Time-Based category. What an amazing journey!
I also need rest after such an exhausting schedule yet so many of my experiences need to be told. I’ll highlight some of those stories over the next few days, then take my break until next month when Courage Ablaze will be showing at MSU.
WOOD TV studio on location for ArtPrize at the Grand Rapids Art Museum interviews Pamela about Hometown Hero.
After signing the names of their heroes, a few elderly men have stood in front of Hometown Hero, raised their weathered hands, and saluted their fallen comrades. A few tears fall every time I think of this tender imagery.
ArtPrize Seven visitor response to Hometown Hero has been amazing. So many thousands of heroes being honored. So much reflection and emotion and conversations and silent contemplation. The full canvas cannot stop the expansion of this time-based art. Hero messages are tightly packed, intertwined, now even layered as a reminder that all heroes bind us together through their examples and acts of selflessness.
“That’s my boy!” shouted John Burri, when “Hometown Hero,” Pamela Alderman’s Time-Based entry, placed in the top five for Time-Based art. His cry rang out above the applause as he was filled with pride and tears of joy at the announcement.
The piece features Burri’s son, Eric Burri, fallen soldier from Wyoming, Michigan who served in Iraq until 2005 when he was killed by a roadside bomb.
A special thank you to all the volunteers, supporters, ArtPrize Seven visitors, and voters that helped make this Top 20 happen!
…watching people interact with the painting allowed me to experience what they felt and to see who they wanted to honor. Love is alive and well in the painting.
Pamela Alderman, a seven-year ArtPrize artist and a three-year finalist, creates interactive works that touch thousands of visitors with the message of hope and healing. Following ArtPrize, Pamela’s installations continue to be exhibited; The Scarlet Cord, from ArtPrize 2014, was featured in Phoenix during Super Bowl 2015.
ArtPrize History: Companions 2009, Woman in Red 2010, Braving the Wind 2011, Courage Ablaze 2012 (Top 100), Wing and a Prayer 2013 (Top 50), The Scarlet Cord 2014 (Top 25), Hometown Hero 2015