A massive driftwood dragon. A world-record seeking opal butterfly. And "Seven Deadly Sins" are ready to tempt you at ArtPrize 2026 through Oct. 3 in Grand Rapids.
These stunning works and the three artists who made them are among more than 1,000 artworks and 1,300-plus artists entered in one of the world's largest art competitions. At stake is more than $600,000 in prizes, as well as high visibility for art that has taken months or years to create.
Nearly 1 million visitors attend ArtPrize every year to view a variety of art installations in indoor and outdoor venues throughout the city.
Meet three self-taught artists from humble beginnings and their spectacular works:
Tina Tabbi
"Catch My Drift"
A 21-foot dragon has taken up temporary residence on the front
lawn of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.
Tina Tabbi, 61, picked up pieces of driftwood on a Lexington beach on the shore of Lake Huron to make this dragon, and began assembling him back in April, using an air nail gun to put the pieces together.
"He was born in a barn in Croswell," said Tabbi, who splits her time between a home there and one in St. Clair Shores, working as a home organizer and household manager to pay the bills. "I don’t know how many pieces of driftwood or how I do it really. They just fit together.
"I picked up scrap wood off the beach and now it’s a dragon."
If the dragon — nicknamed Puff — were to stretch out, Tabbi estimates he would be about 36-feet long from nose to tail. His tail is detachable and she used a moving company to get him to ArtPrize, like she did for her first pair of dragons that she entered in her inaugural ArtPrize last year, and which recently found a new home at the Moross Greenway in Detroit.
"I always really liked the mythical — unicorns, fairies, everything magical," Tabbi said. "And I've always loved nature."
She is delighting in the response evoked by her dragon at ArtPrize.
"It's very rewarding to see people's eyes light up," Tabbi said. "I am having so much fun."
Luciano Bortone
"The Hope Butterfly"
Luciano Bortone, 69, brought his ArtPrize entry, a 65-carat opal butterfly, from the studio where he made it in Anaheim, California to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.
However, the butterfly's origins, like Bortone, are not in the U.S. The opal was mined in Australia, where Bortone grew up and was introduced to the gemstone by an uncle that lived in Coober Pedy, the largest opal mining town in the world.
"I fell in love with opals at age 12," Bortone, who was born in Italy, said.
That love turned his trajectory from studying architecture in Venice to working with opals to create jewelry, which he has now been doing for more than 40 years, using blades and milling machines to sculpt the gem and becoming known for single, large pieces of inlaid opal.
His ArtPrize piece, "The Hope Butterfly," made with 18 ounces of gold and silver as well as 21 pieces of Australian black jade, three emeralds and opal wings trimmed with 750 rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, may be the world's largest opal butterfly. He hopes to get Guinness World Record officials — whom he heard are at ArtPrize — to check out his work and confirm that.
"Four matching wings in this size is not possible in today's market," Bortone said. "Opal is becoming very rare."
E'lla Aimee Webber
"Seven Deadly Sins"
Wrath, lust, pride, gluttony, envy, greed and sloth are the seven deadly sins and E'lla Aimee Webber has represented each in her seven oil paintings on display at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids.
This is Webber's sixth time in ArtPrize. The Grand Rapids art school dropout and 49-year-old mom of six is self-taught and got her beginnings by painting a wall in her basement for her own mother's daycare.She said she is hopeful her depictions of sin, in a diverse array of people accompanied by animals including a sloth, snake, pig, and more, is seen as humorous — but also attention-grabbing with a spiritual message.
"Perhaps (viewers) can find themselves in one of these pieces, if not all, and reflect on their lives," Webber mused. "When you call people out without saying they are doing wrong, it wakes people up. Maybe they see themselves in it and not go so far.
"All of these paintings represent one word, and that word is 'excess.'"
Each of her paintings for this entry took about a month to complete. While she said she hopes to advance to the second round, she is grateful for the exposure at ArtPrize.
"You want people to see your work, whether you win or not," she said. "It shows, 'Hey I'm an artist, this is what I do and can do.' It's an opportunity to express your talent."
Contact Detroit Free Press reporter Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Driftwood dragon, opal butterfly, 7 deadly sins, more at ArtPrize 2026
