On the Tuesday night after Labor Day weekend, three actors and seven musicians transformed a giant barn in Augusta, Michigan into an outrageously energetic yet intimate and beloved Vegas lounge act. Just as The Barn Theatre morphed into the Sands Hotel and Casino, 2017 became 1960 as tribute artists The Vegas Rat Pack took the stage for the summer stock theater’s final week of performances this season.

Sometimes it pays off to put yourself out there.

For Linda LaFontsee, co-owner of LaFontsee Galleries, the value in art worth collecting distills down to a very personal moment. 

“When you first look at a piece of art, your gut reaction is something you should hold onto, because it’s not going to go away.” 

Sparking that personal connection is critical to the success of local artists, as well as the vibrancy of an entire community. But artists cannot achieve success without the support of other key players. 

Now in its ninth year, ArtPrize continues to grow in both size and scope, drawing more than 500,000 visitors to downtown Grand Rapids. And with hundreds of artists showcasing their work in dozens of venues throughout the city, it certainly feels larger than life during its 19-day run.

Dixie Longate is quite the character, in every sense of the word.

Vanessa Autumn is a creator, curator and wrangler of the beauty of nature. Take a look at her website, vanessaautumn.com, and you’ll find paintings, collage work, photography, word art and more — all featuring raw emotion and the power of the nature that surrounds us. We asked the self-taught artist about her approach to creation.

Lake Michigan is more than just a body of water for Catherine Hoffman — it’s an inspiration. Growing up home-schooled in Holland, the natural world had a big impact on Hoffman, who later went on to study illustration at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids. Now back on the lake shore, she creates art that’s meant to evoke a feeling above all else, and wants to write and illustrate her own children’s books.

As an artist, writer and musician to boot, Ryan Hay is hitting the art scene in Grand Rapids in just about every way. With his unique and abstract artistic pieces, Hay is not only making a name for himself, but also helping other up-and-coming artists collaborate and create with one another through the Collective Artspace, which he helped co-found in 2012.

When Katie Maycroft found a Minolta Maxxum 7000i in grandma’s closet — it belonged to grandpa — a personal hobby began to turn into something more. The nearly 30-year-old camera has become a close friend to Maycroft, shifting the way the Lowell native sees photography and the world itself. Now Maycroft captures any “shapes, color, patterns and lighting” worth sharing with the world.

Sitting in a political science class at Northern Michigan University, Esan Sommersell found himself daydreaming.The only member of his family born in America — his family hails from Guyana — Sommersell went to NMU after high school to pursue pre-law at the prodding of his parents. But the Grand Rapids native and Ottawa Hills High School graduate felt out of place and disengaged. His professor, an eccentric guy who had traveled the world and marched with Martin Luther King Jr., noticed and encouraged him to pursue his real passion: making art.