ArtPrize juried finalist enters Top 25

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Three days after the initial ArtPrize Short List was announced, we've seen the first change in its contents.

"Flight" by Dale Rogers, displayed in Ah-Nab-Awen Park, has pushed "Heavy Metal Rock Band" by Fred Conlon, displayed at The B.O.B., out of the Top 25 in the popular vote.

"Flight" was already on the Short List as a finalist for the Best Use of Urban Space juried award.

It's now one of only three pieces that overlap between the Top 25 and the juried award finalists. The other two are "Song of Lift" by Martijn van Wagtendonk at the UICA and "Stick-to-it-ive-ness" by Richard Morse in the Grand River.

Additionally, "Flight" was in the Top 50 before it moved up enough to knock a piece out of the Top 25.

The Top 25 will continue to change as more votes come in before the first round of voting ends. The most recent version of the Top 25 can be found on the ArtPrize website.

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Photos: ArtPrize 2012 Short List

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The first round of voting has been extended this year. In years past, voting for the Top 10 has ended on the Wednesday after ArtPrize starts.

This year, it will last until 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

ArtPrize said people often complained about not being able to see enough art before the list was chopped down to the Top 10, so they extended the first round.

As of Wednesday, 232,000 votes had been cast. That's less than last year in the same time period: 370,309 votes were cast in the first week a year ago.

But this year, ArtPrize-goers can only vote "thumbs up" on art. Last year, they could vote up and down, meaning more votes were cast overall.

There are 30,000 activated voters this year, higher than last year's 27,111.

ArtPrize officials say they expect a big rush of votes Saturday.

"Last year we had about 62,000 votes, so we usually see a big spike," said ArtPrize Public Relations Director Brian Burch. "And we expect that to happen when we close voting on Saturday the 29th."

On Sept. 30, the Top 10 finalists for the public vote will be revealed during a 1 p.m. event in Rosa Parks Circle. That announcement will be streamed live on woodtv.com.

The winners of ArtPrize 2012 will be announced in a one-hour special Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. on WOOD TV8.

All ArtPrize entries will remain in place until ArtPrize 2012 ends on Oct. 7.

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