ArtPrize: Collaborators inspired by creative conflict | News

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - Most of the more than 1,500 exhibits in this year's ArtPrize are the vision and work of one artist.

But some are the result of a collaboration of two or more artists. And sometimes there is conflict in the creative process.

"Sometimes I'll come in and go, 'No you ruined my painting'," laughs ArtPrize artist Amanda Clark.

Amanda and her husband, Roy Clark, create paintings on big sheets of brass.

"My wife paints the whole thing then I come through with a grinder and reveal sections of the brass," explains Roy.

Maybe because they've been married for 16 years, the Clark's  feel free to fight and argue during the creative process.  They say it actually improves the art.

"There is a lot of great tension in the piece," says Roy. "A lot of give and take. If you don't believe in the other person and their talent, then it's just criticism."

"It's one piece when I'm doing it and it's another piece when he is doing it," says Amanda. Sometimes we don't like it when its happening and then when its all finished we look at it and say, 'We made that! It's pretty cool."

The Clarks live in Rockford. They show and sell their work in Michigan and Florida.  They've been in all four ArtPrize competitions.

This year's abstract brass painting of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in northern Michigan is on display in DeVos Place.