Art Prize, Lake Michigan, Blandford, and More

Joline, a friend from college who lives in Chicago, came up to visit us for part of the weekend.  Although I had seen some of Art Prize with the home school group and another time with the family, there were still many venues that I hadn't been able to get to.  Joline and I strolled through some of those on Friday afternoon and then took off to enjoy dusk at Lake Michigan.  The drive on that gorgeous day was beautiful as the trees were so colorful.  On Saturday, the kids and I (minus Caleb who was playing violin in a quartet for a wedding) showed Joline more of our favorite spots--the Blandford Nature Center and the Fish Ladder.

I did not take a picture of the Art Prize winner this year as I did not have my camera with me at the time.  It was a huge stained glass mosaic of the crucifix.  If you want to see it you can click here. 

Lydia enjoyed this interactive piece.  You pushed and pulled the center knob and it changed colors. 

Made all of yellow Legos.  The artist had some sort of message on "emptying yourself".

This picture was constructed with different colored duct tape

A beautiful tile mosaic.  That is the artist standing in front on the right side.

A favorite of all kids

Crafted from recycled bottles and cans

"Pioneer Woman"  made of limestone.

Loved this piece!  The artist used all different fabric pieces.

"Grizzlies on the Ford"  chainsaw art.

"Dumpster Diving"  Really clever use of recycled material

An impressive pencil sketch

Very colorful and eye-catching with the prism things dangling in front.

I thought this was neat.  A rug formed with sand, beans, and other natural things.

 Lots of great oil paintings:

Russ' favorite.  This painting was very large and featured several nostalgic toys.

One of Caleb's favorites

Another favorite of Russ'

Lake Michigan in the fall:

Loved all the colors at Blandford (and, no, I'm not talking about the green pond!)