Lisa Ambrose looks forward to these days every year.

Ambrose, a secretary with the Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital Observation Unit, is also one of Spectrum Health’s resident artists exhibiting in the seventh installment of the world-renowned ArtPrize. The event, hosted in 200 venues across Grand Rapids, runs through Oct. 11.

“I’m always excited for ArtPrize,” she said. “I think it’s very good to get people talking about art and seeing art. I haven’t had the time to look yet, but I’ll probably go around to several of the venues, and I know there’s some right here (at Spectrum Health).”

Ambrose, who works in a variety of mediums as an illustrator when she isn’t at Butterworth, has a large oil painting in the Fifth Third Bank/Warner, Norcross & Judd Building, 111 Lyon St. But she’s no newbie; this is her fifth appearance exhibiting in the international event.

“I apply every year, and the first four years I had work (exhibited),” she said. “The last two years I had to submit a proposal because I was in the midst of finishing my master’s and didn’t have enough work created. My proposal was accepted this year. I just finished painting it on Monday.”

Ambrose’s painting, titled “Betrayal of Home,” is about overcoming childhood trauma, the artist said.

“I collect old photographs, and I found one of a little girl standing in front of a farmhouse in the snow, and I thought about kind of the hidden lives of people, what they might be going through, and what they’d gone through,” Ambrose explained. “I thought of making this painting to show the physical, mental or other abuse of children, perpetuated by adults. But this isn’t about the abuse; it’s about resilience and getting beyond something that happened in your childhood.”

Ambrose isn’t the only Spectrum Health representative in ArtPrize this year.

In a little different take on ArtPrize, Steve Heacock, senior vice president of public affairs at Spectrum Health, participated in the “Leadership on Canvas” exhibit created by local artist and entrepreneur Cynthia Hagedorn. The exhibit includes nearly a dozen local leaders in West Michigan, none of whom are artists, and is currently on display at The Harris Building, 111 S. Division Ave.

Heacock’s abstract painting, which he says is the first painting he has done since kindergarten, is entitled “Quietude” and invokes his love for Northern Michigan. Being a part of Leadership on Canvas has stirred his artistic sensibilities, he said.

“The whole idea of ArtPrize is to create conversation in the community, and this project helps to do that among the influencers who have been chosen to participate in it,” Heacock said. “It brings you into the art further than just viewing and voting.”

“I’ve always had an appreciation for art, but this really does reconfirm how difficult it is to create something that actually has aesthetic appeal and actually says something,” he added. “It seems nearly impossible to me, frankly. I would encourage folks who have never done anything artistic to sit with someone like Cynthia and give it a shot. They might be inspired to do more.”

That’s the great thing about ArtPrize, though: Inspiration is everywhere you look during the next few weeks. And when it comes to being a spectator, Ambrose offers an artist’s advice.

“Enjoy it as you see it,” she said. “I know there are artists out there who have an idea of what should and shouldn’t be considered art. I don’t think that, everybody should have their own opinion. That’s kind of how I feel.”