ESCANABA – U.P. artists chosen to participate at the U.P. Pavilion at DeVos Place during ArtPrize in Grand Rapids began bringing in their artwork to the Bonifas Arts Center in Escanaba today. The collection from 28 artists will leave for ArtPrize in September.

This is the first year that artists from the Upper Peninsula will be featured at one location. The joint effort has been appreciated by those who never would have considered entering the international art competition.

“Because the Bonifas was doing the leg work up here and wanted U.P. artists represented, that’s why I entered. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have entered, said John Hubbard of Gwinn.

Hubbard entered an oil painting titled “Morning Sun.” It’s of a river during winter near the former KI Sawyer Air Force Base where he lives.

Michael Friend of Marquette entered an acrylic painting done with thousands of dots. He says it’s called “A Girl’s Best Friend” because it looks like diamonds.

Friend thought the registration process through the Bonifas went very well.

“I thought it was real easy,” he said. “Everything went fine. It was easy to submit the work. Lots of email correspondence so it went real well.”

Phyllis Carlson of Quinnesec agreed. She appreciated the help filling out the online forms for ArtPrize.

“The process has been interesting and I’m really glad the Bonifas is taking care of all these other details because I’m one of those people who would never ever ever drive to Grand Rapids to drop things off. I like staying in the U.P. And that was part of the incentive,” she said.

She entered a closeup photo of an eagle’s eye titled “Window to the Soul.”

ArtPrize runs Sept. 21 to Oct. 9.