For my 27th birthday, I traveled across the state of Michigan to a city called, Grand Rapids. I use to live out this way when I attended Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids also, Ferris State University in Big Rapids. This city is a bit smaller than Detroit but it has a lot of happenings of a big city. There are small coffee shops to work out of, fun delis, art museums, hockey games and concerts.
I especially enjoy the Craft Beer of Grand Rapids. You can find a brewery around every corner – it seems like. There is Grand Rapids Brewing Co, Founders and the list goes on.
I went to my favorite places while visiting for the weekend. After art class, I would stop at my usual deli for a sandwich on the ride back to Big Rapids. Since I dual enrolled, I never had time to eat, sleep or study so I had to save seconds.
I enjoyed an Italian sandwich at Grand Central Market. It was light, refreshing and perfect for an arrival meal. I got on the road later in the day which set me back a few hours.
Some of the Artprize items were still hindering around the central market. For those of you who are not familiar with Artprize – it is the largest art competition in the world. Over 1700 artists will participate from different countries. The entire city of Grand Rapids is taken over for the 2 week duration that it is in place. I signed up for past year exhibits, great exposure!
Here are the origami swans that were left around… I found them in a window sill.
I had some extra time to venture off around the city.. take pictures of different buildings and art pieces that inspired me. The UICA was in debt a few years ago. Ferris State University paid the debt and now rightfully owns the UICA. On the side of the entrance, you can see FSU across the top of UICA.
For my birthday evening, I went to a Bassnectar concert at the Delta Plex. This was his fastest sold out show in history. I don’t have too many photos for that — I was living in the moment for a Basshead Birthday 😉 The photos that I did capture — were on SnapChat. If you know how SnapChat works.. unless you save your story – those images are lost in cyberspace.. waiting to be captured.
The following day, I went to San Chez for breakfast – read about it here.
I look forward to returning to Grand Rapids sooner than later. I still have a lot of friends that live out this way.
