Homegrown fiber artists challenge speed, silence at Grand Rapids ArtPrize 2026
Two West Michigan natives have returned to their roots for the 16th annual ArtPrize, using the patient, tactile power of fiber arts to push back against the speed and detachment of modern life.
GRAND RAPIDS — Two West Michigan natives have returned to their roots for the 16th annual ArtPrize, using the patient, tactile power of fiber arts to push back against the speed and detachment of modern life.
Exhibiting among more than 1,000 international artists scattered across downtown Grand Rapids through Oct. 3, former Grand Haven resident Sadie Rose and Spring Lake native Rob Sharp have brought vastly different textile installations home to the community where their artistic journeys began.
For Rose, a 24-year-old sculptor, returning to West Michigan marks her debut in the international competition.
Her piece, "Feast" — a 39-inch felt sculpture resting on a pedestal inside Cūra Gallery at 975 Ottawa Ave. NW — demands a double take. From across the room, it evokes a raw animal carcass hanging in a butcher shop. Up close, however, the blood-red flesh softens into matted wool, tinsel, and delicate pink fibers.
Inspired by Rembrandt’s 1655 masterwork "Slaughtered Ox," Rose transformed the classical study of livestock into a confrontation with decay, consumption, and ecological responsibility.
"I think that today a lot of people want to look away from things that are going on in the world, but I think we need to look at those things — thinking about our relationship to the environment, to other people, and being connected," Rose said. "It's about thinking about things that make it a little gross ... as a necessary process, and something that connects all of us."
Rose’s medium of choice is central to her message. Unlike traditional woven textiles, which form along rigid grids—a structured process that historically inspired binary computer code — felting relies on pressure and moisture to interlock loose fibers organically without a fixed pattern.
"Felting is a completely unique medium," Rose explained. "Woven fabrics come together at right angles. Felting is a completely organic process. It's freeform and interconnected. To me, that's an expression that we are all connected in this beautiful tapestry of life in our own way that doesn't have to be so structured."
Before moving to New York to work as a studio assistant to conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, Rose spent her formative years moving across West Michigan, living in Grand Haven and Mason County, before earning an art degree from the University of California, Irvine. She credits her primary inspiration for pursuing art to her mother, West Michigan journalist Lisa Enos.
When ArtPrize opened entries for 2026, bringing her work back home to family and childhood friends was her main goal.
Just a short walk away at Simplicity Communications, fellow local native Rob Sharp is making his own ArtPrize debut with "Yours Truly" — a towering, nearly fully crocheted installation that challenges society's obsession with efficiency.
Weighing roughly 150 pounds and constructed from yarn, wood, and plaster, the whimsical, "Alice in Wonderland"-inspired piece represents nearly 1,000 hours of labor and over 100 skeins of yarn.
Sharp’s journey with fiber arts began recently, learning to crochet from YouTube videos during the COVID-19 pandemic. After years of handcrafting smaller items like crochet flower bouquets, he decided to play with extreme scale for his first-ever competition entry.
"I started in January creating it and it took the whole time. I finished the morning of [ArtPrize]," Sharp said.
Where Rose’s felting celebrates organic connection, Sharp’s painstaking crochet work serves as a tactile protest against automation and warp-speed production.
"It's kind of like a love letter," Sharp said of the installation. "It's not an art form that can be replicated by a machine, so it kinda proves that not everything in society needs to be optimized. I hope it proves not everything needs to happen as quickly as possible."
Both "Feast" and "Yours Truly" will remain on public display at their respective downtown venues through the conclusion of ArtPrize on Oct. 3.
Learn more about the entries at this year's ArtPrize here. Follow Rose on Instagram, as well as Sharp.
— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Mallory Burt is a reporter for Ottawa News Network. Contact her at newsroom@ottawanewsnetwork.org.
