The Grand Rapids Art Museum is holding its 6th annual children’s art contest sponsored by The Wege Foundation and inspired by the late environmental artist Mark Heckman. Partnering with his writer friend Mark Newman, Heckman created colorful drawings to illustrate their book for children titled Sooper Yooper. Peter M. Wege, … More CALLING ALL CHILDREN ARTISTS »
April 27, 2015, architect Ed Mazria gave the 19th annual Wege Lecture urging Grand Rapids to join Architecture 2030, the program he founded in 2006 to cut carbon emissions from buildings in half by 2030. Noting that 50% of the energy in the U.S. is consumed by buildings and 75% of all greenhouse gases … More Grand Rapids Joins Architecture 2030 In Record Time »
Edward Burtynsky is an environmental warrior whose artistic weapon is a camera. For over 30 years, the Canadian artist has turned aerial photography—via planes, helicopters, and drones—into a graphic history of what we Homo sapiens are doing to our Earth home. His airborne cameras have photographed quarries, oil drillers, and mines, among other things, documenting … More The Wonder of Water…”Until it’s gone.” At the GRAM »
How many people know that studying fine art not only enhances artistic skills, but also raises reading scores? Some 1500 third-graders from the Grand Rapids Public Schools do because it worked for them last year! And this year almost 2,000 8-9 year olds are making new visual and verbal connections … More NEWS FLASH on Improving Children’s Reading Skills: ART »
Dana Friis-Hansen left his job as Executive Director of the Austin Museum of Art this summer to take over as CEO of the Grand Rapids Art Museum. In an interesting confluence of art museums, GRAM’s new chief executive will be both exhibitor and presenter during this fall’s ArtPrize. Among the … More New GRAM Leader Having Fun Already »
After one year in operation as the world’s first art museum to win a Gold LEED medal from the United States Green Building Council, the Grand Rapids Art Museum has doubled its attendance. The new GRAM welcomed twice as many people to its galleries in one year as the number … More GRAM’S FIRST REPORT CARD »
Elite athletes aren’t the only ones striving for the gold. Any new construction that is enrolled in the U. S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program dreams of earning a Gold ranking, second only to platinum. Now that the U.S. G.B.C. has finished its formal … More Early ‘Olympic’ Gold for GRAM »
Wege Foundation Actively Fostering LEED-Certified Projects (Grand Rapids Business Journal’s front-page headline August 20, 2007) With a color photograph of the new Grand Rapids Art Museum covering most of the front page, the Business Journal article by Pete Daly begins: GRAND RAPIDS – There is a wave of green construction … More NEW GRAM MAKES WAVES IN GREEN CONSTRUCTION: »
