Car made of bricks for ArtPrize goes to Gilmore Car Museum

When the ArtPrize competition is over what does one do with a car made of bricks?
 
Artist Paula Blinco Collins, best known for her more than 200 bas-relief brick sculptures on display throughout the country, donated her 2016 competition entry, “Mom’s Favorite Car,” to the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners.
 
"It's a 1940 Pontiac that will never rust." says Collins.
 
Collins' entry is a life-sized recreation of a car made entirely out of brick—12,000 pounds of brick. It is nearly four times the weight of an actual 1940 Pontiac.
 
Collins, a freelance sculptor from Denton, Texas, was one of 1,453 artists from around the world who entered the eighth-annual ArtPrize competition. Their work could be seen at various venues across Grand Rapids. Collins’ unique brick automobile ranked fifth in this year's three-dimensional entries.

A total of $500,000 in prize money was up for grabs in the international art competition. Winners are decided by both public votes and a jury of art experts.
 
The Art Newspaper describes ArtPrize as the most attended public art event in the world and the organization's website indicates that more than 380,000 public votes were cast this year.
 
Collins’ work includes commissions to create bas-relief brick sculptures throughout the United States including a soccer venue in Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics, a history sharing mural at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center, and a life-size tree inside Oklahoma City’s tallest building to name a few.
 
The stand-alone brick sculpture "Mom’s Favorite Car," was created by Collins in honor of the first car her mother Aileene road in: a 1940 Pontiac. 
 
Collins is very familiar with the Gilmore Car Museum as she says she spent her "wonder years in Michigan." She says, “this pays homage to my family, my life, and the sculptural beauty of the transportation created in the day.”

After its exhibit during ArtPrize in Grand Rapids the brick car was donated to the Gilmore Car Museum. It was fitting that the gift to the Museum arrived on Monday, Oct. 10 which was Collins' mother’s 90th birthday. She was able to see the replica of her car when it was in Grand Rapids.
 
"We were ecstatic to receive such a unique piece of art that was part of the world-renowned ArtPrize competition," says Michael Spezia, Executive Director of the Museum. He adds that he is certain it will become a focal point of the Museum’s 90-acre campus. 

The Gilmore Car Museum—North America’s largest auto museum—is located 20 minutes northeast of Kalamazoo on M-43 and Hickory Road. To learn more about the Gilmore Car Museum visit here or call the Museum at 269-671-5089.
 
Source: The Gilmore Car Museum