WEST MICHIGAN’S SHIRTPRIZE ANNOUNCES WINNING ARTIST

Public vote via the Web selects gun-toting dove as winner of 2.5 million in prize money

 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – October 8, 2009 – The organizers of Grand Rapids, Mich.-based ShirtPrize today unveiled the winner of 2,500,000 in prize money for an artistic piece designed for the cotton canvas.

 

High school art teacher Scott Gundersen’s simple design of a dove flying away with a gun captured 34.26 percent of the nearly 2,000 votes cast this week in the final round of the public art competition. Gundersen’s “Doves>Guns” edged out 23-year old Amanda Zechar’s cupcake-loving robot, “The Cupcakerator,” and two other designs in the final round of the open art contest, which was created as an alternative to ArtPrize.  (ED:  The finalists' designs can be viewed at http://shirtprize.blogspot.com/) 

“The people have spoken, and what they seem to be saying is that peace rocks,” said Brian Edwards, publisher of REVUE West Michigan, which sponsored the contest in conjunction CitizenShirt, an online t-shirt seller and a supplier of quality screen-printing services.  “The sly but serious political message of Scott’s design resonated with people and generated lots of comments, feedback and votes.  We offer our congratulations to Scott and all the finalists.”

 

Gundersen, who teaches art at Wayland Union High School, created the design with a former student named Nick Zykowski, who currently attends Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. Gundersen is also a Top 50 finisher in the ArtPrize competition being held in Grand Rapids. As the winner, Gundersen will receive 2,500,000 in prize money; however, the prize total is based on Cambodian Riels and equates to $596.78 in U.S. dollars.   The other three finalists will receive $149.20 in prize money.

 

ShirtPrize allowed artists to submit their designs via the Web and then used online polling to let people vote on their favorite designs.  A winner was selected each Sunday for four consecutive weeks, and then the four finalists faced off for the grand ShirtPrize during the first week of October.  The finals week also featured hosting bodies – or social transmitters of design (STDs) – who showcased the finalists’ t-shirt art at events and via social networking.  More than 10,000 people visited the www.shirtprize.com website over the course of the five-week competition, viewing and voting on nearly 50 designs that were entered in the first-time contest.

 

“The t-shirt is a great cotton canvas worn by living venues, and we are pleased that ShirtPrize gave people an alternative opportunity to add that kind of art around the atmosphere of ArtPrize,” said Matt Fulk, president of CitizenShirt.  “We’re pleased that artists and fans discovered ShirtPrize and participated, and hope to bring back ShirtPrize in the future.”

 

REVUE West Michigan is a free monthly entertainment publication distributed at more than 500 locations throughout Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Holland, Grand Haven and Muskegon. For more information, visit www.revuewm.com.

 

CITIZENSHIRT provides quality screenprinting services for local businesses and artists, and also sells shirts online at its e-commerce site.  For more information, visit www.citizenshirt.com.

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Contact:  Brian Edwards (brian@revuewm.com)

REVUE West Michigan/616-262-7484

Or

Matt Fulk (matt@citizenshirt.com)

CitizenShirt/616-821-3063