Manor Elementary School art teacher Melissa Cramer is among those artists from around the world to be selected to display her art at the 2015 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Mi., running through October 11.

     She is one of only 1,550 artists in the world chosen to participate.

     Ms. Cramer’s display is entitled “Women at Work: Viewing with an open mind inspires truth” and includes some 25 tool belts all made entirely from clay.  Even the metal-looking parts are really clay but Ms. Cramer paints a metallic luster on the clay which creates the illusion of metal on some of the pieces.

     “I have a sister in Zeeland who has been trying to get me to show my work in Grand Rapids for the last few years,” Ms. Cramer said.  “I finally decide to try this year after I had an exhibit in April at Artomatic 419 in Toledo.”

     Ms. Cramer said her inspiration for her exhibit first came more than 20 years ago when she saw a tool belt hanging on a nail in her garage.

     Here is Ms. Cramer explaining her art in her exhibit:

     “My work is unique in its own right, and it carries a meaning that is deeper than the surface appearance.  My tool belts bear women’s names which allows the viewer to begin to investigate why such a title would be chosen.  My work deals with stereotypes in society and how people are judged by their looks first and foremost.  The tool belt is traditionally a male-dominated symbol.  Due to that fact, this object lends itself to my purpose. The traditional tool belt itself is made of leather, which can be soft, like a woman. 

     “They have pockets in which to carry items of significance, just as a woman may carry a child in her womb.  The complexity of the tool belts represents the many roles a woman may play in her life time.  These belts represent strength, stability and substance.”

     Ms. Cramer’s exhibit will be at the Fifth Third Bank/Warner Morcoss & Judd LLP Building in downtown Grand Rapids.

     ArtPrize runs through Oct, 11 with more than 1,500 pieces of art at more than 160 venues across three square miles of Grand Rapids.  To learn more, check out the website at http://www.artprize.org/.