The Steampunk Pig

This is the second year that the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan has hosted an event called Art Prize. Art is placed all around the city-inside and outside-and the public votes on the pieces. The Top Ten is a huge honor because there are over 1,000 entries. This year, number nine, which in my humble opinion should have been number ONE, was The Steampig. Yes, my steampunk loving friends, I actually stood below a steampunk flying pig in all of it's awesome glory. This is the description of the pig from the Art Prize literature:

"a large three-dimensional multi-media sculpture of a Steam Operated Flying Airship...the logistics of building 'Parsifal' the SteamPig are just as daunting as they were for building Nessie. Think turn-of-the century industrial revolution in modern times... the flying machines of the early 1900s and an animal that shouldn't fly... A homage to the machinist mentality of the late 1800's and early 1900's, the steam engines that propelled the railroad and images from novels by authors Jules Verne and H.G. Wells."

In my excitement, I didn't think to have my family take a picture of me near Parsifal, but I did take pictures of him.








The detail was amazing as you can see in those last two pictures of his middle, and the bottom of each "leg". The size of the Steampig was truly unbelievable. The picture below has people in it, and you can get a better idea of his size. You can learn more about Parsival and his artists here: http://steampig.com/


There were a few other awesome pieces of art that I took pictures of to share.


This is Pamlico "The Mermaid" made by Gregory Lewis out of 87,000 toothpicks. She was truly amazing, and I loved her expression.

This piece is called "Rage Against The Dying Of The Light". The name was almost as awesome as the art which was created by Matt Large using welded steel rods and pipes.


This last picture is entitled Dragon stands 11 foot tall and 16 foot long. It is made completely from recycled materials, mostly old hot water tanks. The artist is Keith Coleman from Michigan. Again, it's a piece that was really hard to appreciate unless you could see it's immense size.



I think the best thing about Art Prize was the open free venue that allowed people from all walks of life and income level to enjoy and learn about art in so many great forms. Well, maybe that was the second best thing after Parsifal, the Steampig:)

~Brenda