Tuesday, September 20, 2011

ArtPrize - LK's art is on display at Minty Keen



by Lily Li Kostrzewa
If you've never heard of ArtPrize, this year check it out. It is the largest art prize in the world, and it will turn downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan to an art capital tomorrow.
I have a very interesting work at ArtPrize 2011 named “Couple” see link here. It was done by Chinese ink on rice paper first, then I cut the figures and paste them to a very striking background which I made by dripping acrylic paint on a brown paper. This picture tried to depict the intensiveness between a relationship, and the emotional difference between man and woman. The figures were done by monochrome brush lines against a very expressive colorful background to continue my cross-cultural art theme.
ArtPrize takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan Sep. 21 – Oct. 9, 2011. Detail event information see website here. http://www.artprize.org/event-info
Opening Day (Wed. Sep. 21, 2011): 6pm – 10pm
My work will be in downtown Grand Rapids, Minty Keen, 125 Ottawa NW, Suite 170 ( a local antique shop), store phone 616-551-1613 and my voting code 57321. Detail also can be found on my website www.LilyKostrzewa.com.

New exhibits on display at Art Reach

August 5 to August 27, 2011
































Friday, August 12, 2011 7:04 AM EDT
By Lisa Satayut
Sun Special Writer
Artist Lily Kostrzewa sees the world in a different way.

“I see the future and a vision for the eastern culture and western culture,” she said of her contemporary oil and acrylic painting.

Kostrzewa and local artist Linda Oates were part of an artist reception held at Art Reach Thursday evening.

Kostrzewa’s cross-cultural vision tells a story of how cultures merge.

“I try to bring my own vision. I want to bring the east cultural to the west,” she said.

A single piece of her work could include a famous hotel in Taipei, China and a large architectural building in Chicago.

“For me, my artwork is a visual tool to speak the words that cannot be spoken by creating metaphorical structures, figures and emotion,” she said.

Kostrzewa said her ink-like brushstrokes are deeply rooted in her Chinese culture and her years of training in Chinese art.

“I try to bring this global village vision to everybody hoping people here not only appreciate the art but also understand the different cultures and really enjoy the different cultures merge.”

She was wearing a reconstructed dress her 11-year-old daughter, Isabella, made.

Kostrzewa’s work has been exhibited in Taiwan, Austria, Canada and Greece.

She was born in Taiwan and moved to the U.S. when she was 25 to study art. Kostrzewa currently lives in Mt. Pleasant.

Mt. Pleasant resident Wilma Blackman attended the event with her granddaughter Katie Schrock.

“I think it’s amazing,” she said of one of Kostrzewa’s acrylic pieces titled “Blue Sky Cherry Blossoms-from the east to the west.”

Artist Linda Oates creates high-fire stoneware that she describes as “very user-friendly.”

She uses her own glazes.

“I have the ingredients in a little recipe book,” she said.

Oates, who started as a biology major in botany, began her art career after taking a ceramics class to make pots for her plants in the 1970s.

“From there I was hooked,” she said.

Oates uses a gas-fired kiln and said she fires at about 2,300 degrees.

“It makes a really nice hard finish,” she said.

Mt. Pleasant resident Carole Kennett admired a birdbath piece shaped like a hosta plant.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kennett said. “It’s a beautiful piece.

The artist reception attracted many art enthusiasts as well as local artists and spilled out onto the sidewalk as people enjoyed the artwork in the display windows and mingled with the artists.

Both artists will have their work displayed at Art Reach through Aug. 27.
URL: http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2011/08/12/entertainment/doc4e444e2b8d149628483924.prt
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