Andy Sacksteder works on his ArtPrize entry "UPlifting" outside the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids Friday, Sept. 13, 2013. He is from Port Clinton, Ohio. The entry placed third in the public vote and receives a $50,000 prize in ArtPrize 2013. (Cory Morse | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Ann Loveless is ArtPrize 2013's $200,000 first prize winner.

"Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore," depicting a scene of Lake Michigan on a quilt, is the first prize winner in the fifth annual exhibition and $560,000 competition.

Anni Crouter, of Flint, took the $75,000 second prize for "Polar Expressed," a set of three acrylic paintings of polar bears; and Andy Sacksteder, of Port Clinton, Ohio, on Friday was awarded the $50,000 third prize for his bronze sculpture, "UPLifting."

Loveless, of Frankfort, is the first textile artist, the second Michigan resident, and the third woman to win the world's largest art prize in its five-year history.

Related:

• Meet Top 10 artist Ann Loveless, 'Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore'

• ArtPrize 2013 $100,000 Juried Grand Prize winner is Spanish artist at SiTE:LAB

• ArtPrize 2013 reveals winners of 5 juried awards each worth $20,000

• Photos from ArtPrize 2013 awards ceremony

A three-time participant in ArtPrize, Loveless' 2012 entry, "Seasons," reached the Top 25 in the popular vote last year. Two women – Mia Tavonatti, a native of Iron Mountain, Michigan, now of Santa Anna, California, and Adonna Khare, of Burbank, California, also have won the top prize, chosen by people voting online or with smartphone mobile apps or text messages to participate.

Tavonatti, after winning second prize in ArtPrize 2010 with her stained glass mosaic, "Svelata," returned in 2011 with another mosaic, "Crucifixion," to take the prize.

In 2012, the ArtPrize First Prize was changed to a $200,000 cash prize, which Khare collected for her whimsical drawing, "Elephants."

ArtPrize 2013 opened Sept. 18 with work by 1,805 artists from 47 countries and 45 U.S. states and territories in 168 stores, restaurants, museums, pups and parks in downtown Grand Rapids plus Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park located just outside of Grand Rapids.

The fifth annual exhibition continues through Sunday Oct. 6.



Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk covers arts and entertainment for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jkaczmarczyk@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.