KRIS Wine and Americans for the Arts are proud to announce that Pete Beeman, creator of the Hampline Exploration Stations in Memphis, Tennessee, is the grand prize winner of the KRIS Wine “Art of Giving” contest. Beeman’s winning installation is a three-part piece along the Hampline, a two-mile bike path in the Memphis neighborhood of Binghampton. As the grand prize winner, Beeman will receive a $10,000 prize.

The contest, which took place September 12–October 31, 2016, invited consumers, art enthusiasts, and KRIS fans to vote for their favorite public art project from more than 50 U.S artists who created works in the form of sculptures, murals and installations. In addition to Pete Beeman's top prize, the next seven artists who had received the greatest number of votes will also receive cash prizes. The winning works are as follows:

Grand Prize: ($10,000)

Pete Beeman, Memphis, TN – “Hampline Exploration Stations”

 

Second Prize: ($5,000)

Chris McMullen, Seattle, WA – “Revolution” 

Chris Condon, Roswell, GA – “New Growth Forest”

 

Third Prize: ($1,000)

Allen Peterson, Atlanta, GA – “Northwest Atlanta Globe”

Gianna Stewart, Boston, MA – “Toll With Me”

Karl Unnasch, Indianapolis, IN – “Playtime in Indy”

Karen Yank, Boulder, CO – “Current”

Melissa Martinez, Tempe, AZ – “In Bloom”

 

Grant money will be given directly to the winning artists with the aim to fund further projects in the spirit of enhancing their communities through public art. Congratulations to all of the artists, commissioning agencies, and public art fans who got the word out to during the campaign!