GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Ashley Miller, a graphic designer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, was already sweating the prospect of a state government shutdown early this week when a federal budget stalemate upended her ArtPrize experience.

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, where her entry in the 18-day art competition was on display, closed Wednesday because of the federal government shutdown . Busy with work, the Ann Arbor resident said she didn’t have time to to move her six-foot tall drawing, No such Thing as Flightless Birds, to another venue before the museum’s closure.

“It was kind of just the cherry on top for the stress of this week,” said Miller, 30.

Miller is one of the numerous artists whose entries are stuck in limbo at the museum, one of ArtPrize’s bu

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