CREATE with Shayna Velasquez

Lucy Engelman’s illustrations come in all shapes and sizes. Some of our favorites are when she’s teaching us about things. The work below was for clients Greenhorns, West Elm, and Paperbase.

December’s theme is Time, and we’ll be talking with Lucy Engelman, illustrator extraordinaire at the Downtown Market Greenhouse on the 10th (that’s a week from this Thursday). Save that date!

Cabin-Time is a roaming creative residency to remote places. In the years the program’s been around, it’s been held in the Porcupine Mountains, at Bogus Lake Minnesota, Rabbit Island, and Wilderness State Park. The most recent expedition, CT6, was at Green River, Utah. Here’s some of the moments Carson captured as photographer in-residence.

Live #Mass 

Visual disruption is key for Carson’s latest installation project #Mass, where he finds like objects in places of mass consumption (big box retailers , stacks, photographs, and leaves them until discovered and disassembled by location staff. It’s pretty slick.

Next week, our friends at the UICA are hosting Shock. Unlike our last visit, this time, we’ll be in the theater, which also plays host to great indie, throwback, and short-run movies. Have you been? Here’s a few favorites from their upcoming schedule and ones we wish they’d bring back!

A Nightmare on Elm Street // Playing 10/29

We love naps. But we’d love them even more if we didn’t have to fight for our lives to wake up from them. Scary as hell! Best of all, they’re playing this gem in VHS for one night only. We love the understatement in the UICA’s description of the film on their site – “an evil being from another world who gets to his victims by entering their dreams and killing them with gloves that have knife blades attached to each finger.” Oh right, just that. NBD. ;)

The Assassin // Playing from 11/13 to 11/26

Pulling in a respectable 83% on the Tomato meter, and an official selection of Cannes 2015 (with a win for Best Director), The Assassin has all the street cred we need to make it a can’t miss next month. A bad-ass chick doing all the wrong things for the right reasons, then confronting the ethics of honor, mercy and resolve in the 9th-Century Tang Dynasty? It’s gonna be good.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night // Played Last December

Iranian vampire-western shot in black and white. Need we say more? A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has everything we love in a movie. Great dialogue, creepy setting, romance, and maybe the best soundtrack set to breathtaking moments of last year.

Meet Carson, visual artist, photographer, videographer, and October’s speaker for Shock. 

You might know him from his work with Cabin-Time, his promo video for AIGA West Michigan, or his installation project Mass, that was featured in the LA Times, Issue Magazine, and VSCO. Lately, he’s also been doing some sweet bad Photoshop jobs on his Instagram @thecolorbrown.

Shock is going down on Thursday October 29.

ArtPrize is in full swing in Grand Rapids, and being almost a week in, we have a few things we’re keeping our eyes on. This year, we’re noticing more and more ways to engage with ArtPrize beyond gazing at pieces in art galleries. Pop up spaces, entire venues, artist’s talks and special events are catching our attention:

1. The Michigan House

The Michigan House is a roving pop-up space that seeks out cultural events like ArtPrize and exists as a space for organizations and individuals to gather under one roof. Find 6:00 AM yoga most mornings throughout ArtPrize, and a handful of afternoon and evening events at their website. Some events are open to the public and others are invitation only. Image via HeyDayLab.

2. SiTE:LAB Rumsey Street Project

The Rumsey Street Project is not only all over our twitter and Instagram feeds, but is a novel experience away from the crowds at the heart of downtown. With over a dozen pieces to see, we wouldn’t want to miss this venue. We recommend State of Exception, Higher Ground, and Undocumented Histories. Image via Laura Vaughn.

3. The GRAM

Historically, the GRAM has been home to some of ArtPrize’s most notable pieces, not to mention winners. This year, we’re excited about Blue Go Go. 

4. Live Music

All around town, we’ve heard about live busking sites and are keeping our ears open to live music. For starters, St. Cecilia’s will be home to many vocal artists throughout ArtPrize. Image via ArtPrize.

5. ArtPrize 7 Branding

We can’t help but comment on the design collateral seen throughout ArtPrize. It’s easy to take this part of the experience for granted. But if you think about it, the design work that goes into an event like this is something not to miss. The colors for each neighborhood and smaller touch points like maps, signage and event swag are rad. Not sure who did all that sweet work, but they must be pretty great. Image via Elevator Up.

Keep up with ArtPrize by following their account on Instagram. 

And, if all the art is just too much, our last tip: Founders is always nearby. 

We put Terrance to work. Action’s going down tomorrow.

Living in West Michigan, it’s a pretty good bet that the region’s idea for a perfect day is laying at the beach, book in hand, slow jams on the Jambox. And just like our other favorite thing, Terrance’s work shows up here too, with his type Joanna Sans, one of the six font choices standard on Nook Glowlight. It’s super nice.