Two Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University alumni are among 25 artists selected as finalists to compete for first place and the $125,000 Public Vote Grand Prize for ArtPrize 2023.

Bryce Culverhouse and Christopher Shields each received enough public votes over the week-long Round 1 voting period for their respective entries to land in the Top 25.

ArtPrize voters now have the chance to cast one vote for the Top 25 entry they feel is most deserving of the Grand Prize, with Round 2 voting open through 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 28.

KCAD is playing a leading role in ArtPrize 2023, hosting exhibits and celebrating student, faculty, staff and alumni contributions in the nationally known competition stretching throughout Grand Rapids. The college is part of the new public-private partnership alongside the city of Grand Rapids and Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. The event runs through Sunday, Oct. 1.

Culverhouse, who passed away earlier this month, graduated in 1972 with a professional certificate in Advertising Design.

He affirms a legacy of creativity, connection and activism with his “Black History Series,” on view at the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives, 87 Monroe Center St. NW, in Grand Rapids.

Following a career as a graphic designer, art director and creative director, Culverhouse began blending history, fine art typography and advocacy into a deeply connective creative practice.

Using typography as brush strokes, he created unique portraits of transformative historical figures composed entirely of their most famous words and stories, captivating viewers from a distance and inviting them in close to explore the stirring narratives within.

Culverhouse’s tremendous passion for connecting with people through his art was evident in how he carried it out into the world.

He was a proud participant in multiple ArtPrize events, where he reveled in the opportunity to spark inspiration and dialogue with his creativity. 

While his work has been featured in group, solo, and juried exhibitions throughout the United States and won numerous awards, it is most distinguished by its power to reflect the best of humanity back at the viewer, and to remind us that the capacity to create change lies within us all.

Shields earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing from KCAD in 1996. 

His Top 25 entry, “Technophobia,” is a beautifully rendered and hauntingly fragmented oil painting on view at The Morton, 55 Ionia Ave. NW in Grand Rapids.

The Grand Rapids-based artist’s work explores human identity and creativity in the age of artificial intelligence. 

Shields explores themes of inclusion, desire, authenticity and queer identity in a creative practice that spans—and often blurs the lines between—multiple mediums, including digital manipulation of analog paintings and drawings.

After graduating from KCAD, Shields exhibited his work nationally and internationally and taught art in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Detroit.

Technophobia” stemmed from Shields’ experiments feeding his work into an AI image generator, where he manipulated the results to achieve his desired effect before manually recreating the final image as a large-scale oil painting. The final piece stands powerfully as both a stirring confrontation of the ethical implications of AI’s rapid intrusion into the world of fine art and a reflection of the ever-present tension members of the LGBTQ+ community face living in a society that affirms and condemns them.

The winners of ArtPrize 2023 will be announced at a public awards ceremony at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 29, at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids. For more information, visit artprize.org.