The 54-year-old man has laugh lines around his mouth and eyes, both from smiling frequently and squinting through his camera’s viewfinder.
Recently, photography instructor Douglas Coon entered ArtPrize, an annual art competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Last year, over 400,000 visitors attended ArtPrize, with art from 47 countries and all 50 states. Running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 12 of this year, the 19-day competition invites artistry of all kinds to enter for $560 thousand in prize money, which is determined both by jurors and popular vote.
Born and raised in Hillsdale, Coon has held an interest in photography since middle school. Photographs furnish the walls of his office in Sage 266: a black-and-white fern, boats in a cozy harbor, and the vast eroded steeps of Utah.
One picture that hangs on his wall is of a broken basketball net that mirrors a spiders web.
Senior Katherine Helmick said that this picture is her favorite.
“The relation to each other is something you could overlook walking by, but he captures it and frames it, so you see the beauty of that parallel echo,” she said.
Coon attended Western Michigan University and graduated in 1986 with a degree in television and film production. Since then, he has spent time traveling the United States and Canada, photographing wherever he goes.
Coon described his photography as a “mixed bag.” Though he does a lot of landscape photography, he enjoys shooting a large variety of things, such as some portraiture and cityscapes.
“The whole exercise is fun, planning where you want to go, and traveling around,” he said. “I sort of have locations in mind, but at the same time once I get out there, I explore.”
Coon said that he visited ArtPrize last year, and thought that it was extraordinary.
“I’ve never been to anything quite like that in terms of scale and variety. It is all over the map,” Coon said. “It goes the whole gamut.”
The art in the competition decorates downtown Grand Rapids, displayed in separate venues, such as restaurants, banks, and coffee shops, which host the artwork at their businesses. The advantage extends to both the business, who receive increased traffic, and the artist, who displays their work.
Coon said that, because he was so impressed by the show, he wanted to join and have people actually see his work.
“I just wanted to see if I could become a part of it, as much as anything, mostly just to see if I could,” he said.
Former student and art major Lauren Wierenga ’14, is a freelance designer who lives in Grand Rapids. She said that city has undergone a slow renaissance, and that ArtPrize fosters huge growth for local businesses and the city.
“The city really comes alive during ArtPrize every year, and it’s just fun to explore downtown and see weird, new, and exciting spectacles,” Wierenga said in an email. “I’m excited to see what he chooses to display in ArtPrize.”
Coon submitted a piece composed of three photographs, which he entitled “Frozen Cheese: Ice Caves of the Apostle Islands.” He took the pictures last winter in the Wisconsin caves, accessible from Lake Superior. The photos show huge icicles and masses of ice of blue and green hughes hanging from the red rock of the caves.
Coon said that the challenge was deciding which photos to submit. He chose this place both because the ice caves were so unusual, and because Michigan visitors would vividly remember the harsh winter.
“I thought it might stand out as being a little bit different,” he said. “Especially for photography that can be a challenge sometimes, in that you get into these conventional hemes. Anything that causes someone to pause and take a second look at your work helps.”
After Coon submitted his work, he was contacted by West Coast Coffee, a shop located near the heart of the city and the Grand Rapids art museum. Many artists assume the responsibility to find their own venue, but Coon was contacted by a venue immediately after he entered. After researching the coffee shop, he accepted.
Less than two weeks ago, Coon received a call from the venue, saying that someone was interested in purchasing all three prints. He was thrilled. Since ArtPrize has not started yet, the photographs must stay in the shop until the end of the show in October.
Though Coon said he does not have any delusions that he will win ArtPrize, his goal is to get his work into people’s hands.
“I wanted to find my own path; that has always been really important to me,” Coon said. “Trying to find my own voice in the midst of all that is something I have been obsessed with for a long time.”
Wierenga said that Coon shoots beautiful landscapes without looking cliche or over-sentimentalized.
“I was surprised that such an energetic, zany person could take such beautiful, thoughtful, moreover peaceful images of nature,” she said. “And, frankly, I was just surprised that he was able to sit still long enough to take the shot.”
She also said that, although Coon has traveled vastly and captured strange and detailed photos, the thing that she learned most from his work is that a photographer does not have to go to exotic locations to shoot interesting pictures.
“I can definitely say with the utmost sincerity that he is a very talented landscape photographer,” Wierenga said. “Capturing the beauty of day-to-day life around you is what really helps you grow as a photographer and artist.”
