ArtPrize 2025: Erin Reinholtz’s ‘Magic in the Forest’
1 Oct. 2025
By Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing Writer
Erin Reinholtz’s “Magic in the Forest,” on display above the hearth at Brush Studio, at 11 Ionia Avenue NW, is a colorful landscape painting depicting a close-up of the changing leaves on a couple of trees, what some artists have come to call a fragmented landscape or a micro-landscape.
This is a departure from Reinholtz’s 2024 ArtPrize debut, “10,000 Followers,” a series of portraits intended to spark conversation about the disconnection we suffer from too much screen dependence. “Portraits and landscapes do seem like different worlds, artistically,” Reinholtz said, “but I actually love the creation of both.”
Initially, Reinholtz focused heavily on portraits, but in the past five years, she’s spent more time on landscapes. “Both types of subject matter help me share my message that life is precious,” Reinholtz said, “and we should strive to live with intention so we don’t find ourselves missing out on what really matters in this short time we have, with the people we care about, and the beauty in nature that surrounds us.”
Last year, Reinholtz wanted people to feel pulled in by the human faces in her portraits and make a connection that way. This time around, “Magic in the Forest” challenges viewers to stop and notice and appreciate the beauty in the nature that surrounds us all.
“When was the last time you allowed yourself to just notice something in nature for the sake of pleasure and relaxation, without rushing by or using it as a post on social media?” Reinholtz said. “As much as I value deep connections between people, I also find a deep connection to nature invaluable.”
“Magic in the Forest” was inspired by a walk through the woods as the sun was beginning to lower down for the night and filter through the trees.
“As a former photographer, this kind of lighting always gets me, so I stood watching it for a while,” Reinholtz said. “I felt compelled to make paintings of this feeling I get from the experience. I wanted the colors and the light to feel very happy, and I have a way of painting, where my brush kind of dances along the canvas.”
The result was a large, mosaic-like painting that struck a chord with Reinholtz. She has made a few other paintings along the same vein, but she wanted to share this first one, with the people of Grand Rapids, during ArtPrize.
One of the central reasons why Reinholtz focuses on the preciousness of life via interpersonal connections and the outdoors is because she had an experience several years ago that left her feeling like she might lose her ability to see and paint. In the past year, her father experienced a health scare. He has since recovered, but it was another reminder.
“Any time a tragedy happens, someone dies, or a major change occurs, it thrusts us into seeing clearly what matters and what we’re spending our time on,” Reinholtz said. “Being in such a vulnerable place reminds us of what our priorities are and gives us a chance to check that we are living in a way that honors them.”
Following her first experience with ArtPrize last year, Reinholtz reached out to a friend in Florida and convinced her to enter ArtPrize this year. Her friend connected with a venue, and now the two of them are in the very early stages of producing an installation piece together for ArtPrize 2026. Reinholtz did not share any further details, but she insinuated that the difference between next year’s ArtPrize piece, and the work she has done in the past, would be much greater than the difference between her landscape, “Magic in the Forest,” and her portrait, “10,000 Followers.”
In line with Reinholtz’s message of the preciousness of lived experience, she is also a strong proponent of viewing art in person. “I think it is absolutely wonderful that art is widely accessible online now and that you can see it from a screen and enjoy it,” Reinholtz said, “but there really is something so powerful about seeing artwork in person. The real-life size, whether grand or tiny or anything in-between, the little details and textures that can’t come through a photo, the fact that another person had their hands on it and now you are right there with that same physical piece… These all create an experience somehow. I think it’s inexplicable, something on a deeper level, like an essence of the artist leaves the piece and enters the viewer. I know, I personally try to create a dialogue, where I am sharing my feeling or story through the painting, but it isn’t actually complete until a viewer comes and puts their own story into it.”
Erin Reinholtz’s “Magic in the Forest” is currently on display at Brush Studio at 11 Ionia Avenue NW (Vote ID 29864). It is on sale for a price of $3,500. Others of her works are on display at Plumfield Books in Ada, This That Other in Lowell, and Kent District Library, Cascade, later this fall. She is also participating in Christmas Through Lowell this year, and she has a few juried art exhibits and fairs coming up. Her website is erinreinholtz.com, she is on Facebook, Instagram, Substack, and YouTube under the handle @erinreinholtzart, and fans can write her at hello@erinreinholtz.com.
