ArtPrize - George Moussalli - An open art contest based in Grand Rapids Michigan, the world's largest Art Prize.

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Artist information:
George Moussalli
Decatur, Michigan

Text voting ID: Tooltip

Up: vote35151
Down: vote35150

George Moussalli is showing at:
	Paula Scott Unlimited and Think Design-FULL 560 Fifth Street NW Suite 301 Grand Rapids, MI 49504 View profile

George Moussalli
Artist bio: While growing up Baghdad, Iraq, George Moussalli demonstrated his talent in design by building a model of a single-winged aircraft and constructing a water bicycle during his youth. He was offered the opportunity to attend a private design school in England, but his mother refused. Once older,he worked for the Public Works Department in Iraq as an architectural detailer. At 27, George won an international architectural competition awarding him a scholarship to Bradley University. He moved to Illinois, but withheld from completing his last semester of college in order to marry the love of his life and start a family. He worked for 36 years in Peoria, IL as an architectural draftsman, designing schools, churches and hospitals for the local community. He developed a passion for creating porcelain sculptures of birds, which he considered his hobby, and sold some of his pieces due to their popularity. At age 85, he is still producing some of his most significant architectural work.
Artist statement: Art comes from the heart and mind. If you are good to humanity and your heart is full of love towards humanity, it comes to you easy. I create to prove my ability and to design something unusual. I love to see something designed nicely, beyond what people want. I want to help everyone I can, poor and rich. If I make a mistake, it's shown to me in my dream when I sleep and I see how it needs to be done. The Lord shows me how to do it. Ask anyone in my family, I dream, and then I wake up and say, "I am going to build it this way". That's the way I know art. Sometimes I erase the whole thing and start again and correct it to the way I saw it in the dream. I’ve been working on this project for five years. I'd like to see it built, maybe either as a museum or cultural center. This is my last piece. I want to give up and rest. This is the last, I hope I never touch another one, but I don’t know if I can because it is my habit to keep busy.

George Moussalli

Artist bio: While growing up Baghdad, Iraq, George Moussalli demonstrated his talent in design by building a model of a single-winged aircraft and constructing a water bicycle during his youth. He was offered the opportunity to attend a private design school in England, but his mother refused. Once older,he worked for the Public Works Department in Iraq as an architectural detailer. At 27, George won an international architectural competition awarding him a scholarship to Bradley University. He moved to Illinois, but withheld from completing his last semester of college in order to marry the love of his life and start a family. He worked for 36 years in Peoria, IL as an architectural draftsman, designing schools, churches and hospitals for the local community. He developed a passion for creating porcelain sculptures of birds, which he considered his hobby, and sold some of his pieces due to their popularity. At age 85, he is still producing some of his most significant architectural work.

Artist statement: Art comes from the heart and mind. If you are good to humanity and your heart is full of love towards humanity, it comes to you easy. I create to prove my ability and to design something unusual. I love to see something designed nicely, beyond what people want. I want to help everyone I can, poor and rich. If I make a mistake, it's shown to me in my dream when I sleep and I see how it needs to be done. The Lord shows me how to do it. Ask anyone in my family, I dream, and then I wake up and say, "I am going to build it this way". That's the way I know art. Sometimes I erase the whole thing and start again and correct it to the way I saw it in the dream. I’ve been working on this project for five years. I'd like to see it built, maybe either as a museum or cultural center. This is my last piece. I want to give up and rest. This is the last, I hope I never touch another one, but I don’t know if I can because it is my habit to keep busy.

About the work:
Title: Gemstar Building on the Surface of the Earth
Art form: 2-D, 3-D
Medium: pencil drawing, mixed
Year created: 2009
Description of work: Hand drawn layouts and a hand crafted model intertwined with a story of a unique individual that reflects the grandeur of the structure created.
Work statement:
Technical details:
Work width:	47 inches
Work height:	35 inches
Work depth:	5 inches
Required venue ceiling:	n/a
Required venue door height:	n/a
Required venue door width:	n/a
Required wall linear footage:	16 ft.
Required venue square footage:	12 sq. ft.
Additional considerations:
Audio/video needed:	No
Electrical needed:	No
Lighting needed:	Yes
Internet access needed:	No
Ground floor access needed:	No
Indoor space needed:	Yes
Outdoor space needed:	No

Work Images

Presenting Sponsor: Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation

Institutional Sponsor: UICA

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ArtPrize
A radically open art competition, giving away the world's largest art prize. Part arts festival, part social experiment - this international art contest is decided solely on a public vote. Art festival runs Sept. 22 through October 10, 2010. Come and see.