FREEWEE WINS IMAGINE, NYX & HERICK SHARE HONOURS: JUNE WINNERS OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

A brilliant and mesmerizing piece by FreeWee Ling, VERTICAL SPIRAL KALEIDOSCOPE has taken top art honors (L$5,000) for the JUNE Round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge! The FLAGSHIP (Architecture) Challenge went down to the wire, and in the end, the builds of Nyx Breen and Herick Straaf could not be separated as the judging panel were hopelessly deadlocked, thus resulting in the first ever joint winners for the FLAGSHIP Challenge. Herick a first time winner, and Nyx coming in with an incredible 5 wins across the 10 months of the challenge! Nicci Lane took 2nd Prize in the FLAGSHIP.

Concluding month 10 of this year long L$550,000 challenge, June saw 68 amazing artworks and 7 Flagship Builds submitted by artists hailing from all corners of the globe, including by a number legendary SL builders.

Commenting on the win, FreeWee said, "I am just astounded at this prize. The June round had some of the most amazing work yet seen, including many pieces by some of the true greats of SL. Artists who have truly inspired me for a long time. To win first place in this field of entries is truly humbling.  I was amused to see several kaleidoscopic pieces in this round. The nature of SL prim building lends itself to recursive forms like that. It's not hard to create interesting forms. But I admit my discovery of the effects of gravity on rotating flexible prims was a happy one. There is almost and organic quality to the piece as the parts spin and dance."

South American winner Herick Straaf was left stunned, " First, I have no words to describe my delight at winning this competition. It is an honor, since it's my first participation in the UWA Flagship challenge. I would like to thank everyone who gave me this vote and all of the jury and also to Keystone Bouchard who sent me a notecard about this contest.  As a Brazilian, I have great affection for the people, culture and Australian architecture. The moment I heard about the contest, I became interested in researching more about Western Australia, and one of the first great impressions was the Stirling Park Ranges, which gave me the start to my building, so I made a reduced version with high-technology style of the Bluff Knoll peak. I am very pleased and honored to have had this recognition, and from now on will be tuned to the forthcoming events of UWA. My sincere thanks to everyone who recognized the work."

Another first time entrant Takni Miklos won a host of prizes with her piece, Sierpinsky Sieve, taking the newly established Rain Prize, joint 2nd Prize in the People's Choice Award, and also joint 2nd Prize in the IMAGINE Art Challenge.

MidnightRain Glas, one of the founding patrons of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge and after whom the Rain Prize is named, explained, "It's very interactive, it tempts you to disobey the instructions, and you know you will, and so the artist.... is very clever and takes advantage of human weakness"

Takni herself was thrilled at the outcome, "I came to SL to chat and I didn't discover that you can build things here until a  year later. Now I'm discovering that other people like my things, and I'm VERY surprised. Thanks to all."

The exquisite MEDUSA'S GAZE, masterfully crafted by pravda Core took the prize for Best Non-Scripted entry, and will prove very hard to dislodge in coming rounds. He's thrown down the gauntlet, and submitted his pieces for July already (The Vampire Heritage & The Minotaur's Wrath).  A believer in the wonders SL can offer, pravda said, "nothing is impossible, dream, believe, be inspired and make it happen."

It was truly a month for joint awards, as EINSTEIN'S UNFINISHED SYMPHONY (Gleman Jun) and A BEAUTIFUL SOUL PASSES (Jeri Rahja) were joint 2nd Prize winners in the IMAGINE & PEOPLE'S CHOICE Awards respectively.

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES by Lea Supermarine & Jarapanda Snook also won a couple of awards taking first Prize in the People's Choice as well as the "Honorable Mention Prize for A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING".

There were 5 Honorable Mention Prizes in all, with the others being won by Madcow Cosmos, Abstract Baroque, Silene Christen and Theoretical Afterthought.

Theoretical Afterthought put it very nicely when she said, "Recognition of someone's creative attempt to describe a feeling or emotion through the use of uncomplicated building blocks signals some degree of success, albeit temporary, for its creator.  Being at the receiving end of that recognition for creation of The Panopticon is very cool, indeed.  This being a build based on surveillance, on watching, on gazing, of one's physical  depiction or that of others, I have to wonder what it signals to the spectator.  It is that connection, that relationship that develops between the idea of the creator, and how the spectator receives it, that intrigues and challenges me. As a lifelong student of identity, introspection /self-reflection is always at the forefront of all my work."

Some other exciting developments with the UWA presence were announced at the awards ceremony.

First of all  the Residents of Artemesia, through FreeWee Ling,  have stepped in to help run a UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge Trophy Contest, to create a Trophy that will be given to all winners of the UWA Challenges. The creator of the best trophy, that we select to use, will win a  L$3,000 prize. The closing date for submissions of the trophy design is the 31st July 2010. Basically no scripts are allowed for the trophy, and the limit is 10 prims. There are notecards available here ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/64/136/250 ) for anyone who might want to help design a trophy.

The Rain Prize was also established. This is a special prize of L$1,000 offered by one of the founding patrons of the UWA 3D Art & Design challenge. This Rain Prize winner will be selected by the patron and provided for the June, July & August rounds.

We also had the Second Life Birthday #7 (sl7B) happen and UWA were represented by a lovely build by quadrapop Lane which was dedicated to the 180++ SL residents who have taken part in UWA events.  There was a talk at sl7b which described all the "Unexpected Collaborations" that have driven the growth of the UWA presence. (http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/2010/06/unexpected-collaborations-uwainsl-and.html)

Thanks was given to the master machinimatographer Iono Allen who created the Machinima of the May winners ( http://vimeo.com/12891162 ). His works have been much sought after, and his amazing interpretation of the winners will be sorely missed for the June round winners as Iono goes away holiday. We are lucky however to have another very accomplished machinimatographer Suzy Yue, to pick up the reins for the June winners! Big boots to fill. But if anyone can fill them, Suzy can.

WINNERS OF THE JUNE ROUND OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE
IMAGINE CHALLENGE - 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize: ($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt) VERTICAL SPIRAL KALEIDOSCOPE by FreeWee Ling

Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize: ($L3,000)  JOINT EINSTEIN'S UNFINISHED SYMPHONY by Gleman Jun & SIERPINSKY SIEVE by Takni Miklos

Best Non-Scripted Entry: ($L3,000 + Custom T-Shirt) MEDUSA'S GAZE by pravda Core

FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE - BUILDING DESIGN

Flagship Challenge 1st Prize :  ($L5,000) JOINT CONCEPT BUILDING FOR AXS LAB by Herick Straaf & UWA AXS LAB  by Nyx Breen

Flagship Challenge  2nd Prize: ($L3,000) JUNE UWA FLAGSHIP by Nicci Lane

Honorable Mention Prize for PHILOSOPHY (L$1,000) TA PANOPTICON  by Theoretical Afterthought

Honorable Mention Prize for SOUL (L$1,000) THE LAND OF FORGOTTEN THINGS by Selene Christen

Honorable Mention Prize for A BEAUTIFUL MIND (L$1,000) IMAGINE by Abstract Baroque

Honorable Mention Prize for ELEGANCE (L$1,000) THE FORGE OF DREAMS by  Madcow Cosmos

Honorable Mention Prize for A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING (L$1,000) MUSIC OF THE SPHERES by Lea Supermarine and Jarapanda Snook

The RAIN PRIZE (L$1,000) - Established for one of the Founding Patron of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge SIERPINSKY SIEVE by Takni Miklos

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD - 1st prize (L$1,000): Lea Supermarine & Jarapanda Snook - Music of the Spheres

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD - 2nd prize (L$500): Joint Prize Takni Miklos - sierpinsky sieve jeri Rahja - A beautiful Soul Passes