GRAND RAPIDS, MI – City High Middle School’s Elliot Williamson has won ArtPrize’s 2025 SMART Art Competition, officials announced on Friday, Sept. 19.
The annual international art competition kicked off Thursday and will run for more than two weeks, ending Saturday, Oct. 4. The SmartArt competition, sponsored by Consumers Energy, has been a longtimer partnership between the company, ArtPrize and Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS).
Williamson’s winning entry was titled “Renewable Energy Will Make The World Bright.” SMART Art, stands for Students Making Art with a Renewable Theme.
The contest invites GRPS students in ninth through 11th grades to express their ideas about energy, the environment and the world they hope to create through art.
GRPS Fine Arts Director Dan Van Til described it as a “powerful example of how art can inspire action and awareness.
“Our scholars are using their creativity to explore meaningful issues that matter to them, and the results are both thought-provoking and deeply moving,” he said.
Williamson’s entry was a woodburned piece featuring a view of the Earth from space fit neatly inside a lightbulb. The bulb, lit up with new life also growing inside, is being powered by various forms of renewable energy.
He won a $2,000 scholarship and an Apple Laptop, courtesy of Consumers Energy. Each of the top 10 finalists received monetary or technology prizes.
In Williamson’s artist’s statement, he described creating the piece because wind, solar and hydropower are the top three renewable electricity producers.
“The lightbulb is to show how renewable energy will make the world bright again like a light bulb, not literally light but rather green again,” he said.
“I also used recycled wood to go with the theme of a brighter future,” he added, “with renewable energy connecting with recycling, and woodburned the design onto the wood.”
Williamson won from a list of 41 entries, with 20 GRPS finalists selected by a panel of art professionals including a local artist, a community organizer and representatives from the Center for Community Transformation and Grand Rapids Community College.
The district enrolled 13,692 students as of the 2024-25 school year.
Williamson’s piece along with the other top 20 competition finalists artwork will be on on display on the first floor of the Grand Rapids City Hall throughout ArtPrize.
ArtPrize celebrates artists working in all mediums and is open to any creative with artwork to enter and a venue willing to host.
There are over 930 artists featured this year at 155 venues throughout downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, including public parks and museums, galleries, storefronts, in bars and on bridges.
Observers can vote on which artists should take home a piece of $375,000 in prize money.
Cathay Wilson, executive director of corporate giving at Consumers, said Williamson and other participants are “not just creating art. They’re sharing their vision for a better world.”
“Their creativity, passion, and optimism are inspiring,” she said, “and we’re proud to support their journey as they imagine and shape the future.”
Artwork from the finalists included mixed media, oil painting, yarn, digital, ink, plastic and more.
The 20 finalists, along with their high school, are listed below.
Samya Alford, Innovation Central High School, “In Full Bloom.”
Keyla Arcos-Lopez, Museum High School, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.”
Andy Blancas-Vazquez, Union High School, “The Breath of Tomorrow.”
Sneha Dixit, City High Middle School, “A Drop of Hope.”
Clara Guest, City High Middle School, “New Beginnings.”
Juan Hernandez-Gomez, Southwest Middle High School Academia Bilingüe, “Earth’s Vision.”
Judy Hollister, City High Middle School, “Unbalanced.”
Emma Hoogewind, CA Frost Environmental Science Middle High School, “Lady of the Forest.”
Roberto Huling-Perez, Union High School, “Two Sides of Earth.”
Lucy Kearney, City High Middle School, “Footprints.”
Sylvie Mahlie, City High Middle School, “Is It Too Late?”
LaZell Martin, Innovation Central High School, “Natural Growth.”
Lulu Nygaard Tap, City High Middle School, “Way of Water.”
La’Kariana Perkins, Union High School, “Renewable Energy and Nature.”
Alivia Phillips, Southwest Middle High School Academia Bilingüe, “XYZ.”
Lily Salacina, CA Frost Environmental Science Middle High School, “Life, Death, and Rebirth.”
Lux Schmitz, CA Frost Environmental Science Middle High School, “Micro Particles, Macro Problems.”
Bee Sutherby, Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy, “Sustenance.”
Ayana Torres, Southwest Middle High School Academia Bilingüe, “Our Beautiful Earth.”
Elliot Williamson, City High Middle School, “Renewable Energy Will Make The World Bright.”