UWA Artists' Choice WATER Winners!

Winners of the 5th UWA Artists' Choice 3D Art Challenge on the theme "Water" were announced this morning in the specially created sim-wide gallery space. Taralyn Gravois performed emcee duties as usual.

Coming in First Place was an installation by Hypatia Pickens based on the the peculiar words and images from a mysterious indecipherable medieval manuscript.


In Second Place was  Secret's evocative connection between the sea and the womb, which clearly resonated with a lot of people.


Third Place went to the entry by Lilia Artis. Several people noted that Lilia's piece was not obvious and warranted close examination. For others it was a clear and brilliant evocation of the irony of a planet covered in water while people are starving for lack of water.

The show had nearly 1500 unique visitors over the month, resulting in a dramatic increase in participation in the People's Choice award voting. Coming out on top was Finn Lanzius's dramatic immersive sunset on the beach.

 
The complete photo archive of the Water show can be seen on FreeWee's Picasa site.

Following is the full transcript of the  presentation ceremony:

Welcome to the fifth edition of the UWA Artists' Choice Awards!

As is tradition at the University of Western Australia, we would like to acknowledge that the University is situated on Nyoongar land and that the Nyoongar people remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land and continue to uphold their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Before we announce the winners, FreeWee would like me to remind you that this amazing WATER show is closing today. Do please take a last tour ASAP.  The water surface has been temporarily frozen for the awards ceremony. Soon as we're done you'll be able to sail around and go down to explore the undersea mermaid grotto if you wish.

The exhibition catalogues for each of the Artsts' Choice challenges are being published in the online journal "UWA Studies in Virtual Arts." The current "WATER" show will be added to the previous four editions that covered the "3D Self Portraits," "Perfume," "Music", and "Air" shows earlier this year. This latest edition is lacking only the announcement of the Winners and should be published very soon. It and the earlier editions can be found at this link: http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/p/uwa-siva.html

FreeWee has published the complete photo archive (181 images) of "WATER" at: http://goo.gl/GEFKA

FreeWee also urges you to submit your work for the next show on the theme: "FIRE". Deadline for submissions is TODAY at 6PM SLT.  She is working hard on the gallery for FIRE, but the show seems prone to.. accidents..

Looking ahead, start working on your submissions for the show to follow FIRE as we finish the series of elemental themes in November with EARTH. And finally in December we will finish out the year with a theme called "TRIPTYCH." Details on both EARTH and TRIPTYCH will be announced very soon.

The UWA Artists' Choice challenges are designed to inspire and support the work of artists. The key difference from earlier challenges is that the main awards are determined entirely by the votes of the participating artists and sponsors themselves. It's a special honor to be acknowledged by our colleagues. Who knows art better than they?

We received 19 amazing entries for the WATER theme by 17 artists.

L$15,000 was donated by our sponsors this month. Clearly, none of this would have been possible without the tremendous support of UWA in SL, and most especially the imagination and vision of JayJay Zifanwe.

We also express our deepest gratitude to the other sponsors for this event. We are especially delighted to welcome back our long lost friend Flora Nordenskiold and NordanArt.

Other sponsors this month include:
Armany Thursday and Dyce Underwood for DNA Art and Music Fusion
Ginger Alsop and Phi Designs (now Phi Clothing Designs with a brand new store!).
and special donations by anonymous donors.

Anyone wishing to support future challenges, please contact FreeWee Ling.

Now to the awards. Choosing "Water" for the September theme was inspired by the idea of having four related shows based on the alchemical "elements' of air, water, fire, and earth. The interpretations of "water" have been diverse as usual. We were really expecting a few watercraft. But our artists showed us once again that they are not the kind to create the obvious.

The Water show was a featured site in the SL Destination Guide. We have hosted nearly 1500 unique visitors in the past few weeks. One result is a near tripling of votes cast for the People's Choice awards over the previous month.

The voting was clear, with nearly 20  points separating the winner from its closest competitor.
The People's Choice Award (L$2000) for UWA Artists' Choice WATER goes to:

EVENING SHORE: A LIVING PAINTING by Finn Lanzius

Rounding out the top five were: both entries by Krystali Rabeni, the the entries by Lilia Artis and Barry RIchez.

Next we go to the Non-scripted Award. This was determined by the highest ranking in regular voting for a piece that is non-scripted.

The Non-Scripted Award for WATER goes to:

NOBODY!

That's right, but it's not because of a tie. This may be the first round ever in which we had NO unscripted entries. So the unscripted prize will not be presented this time.

So we go directly to the top three overall awards.

Because of FreeWee's peculiar position, she has again decided to withdraw her entries from consideration for a prize. She thanks all who voted for her and is pleased to have been able to participate in this show.

The voting was diverse. Several entries receive many votes, but were not top ranked. Only one point separated the top entry from Second place, and only 2 points between the Third and fourth place.

The Third Place Award (L$3000) goes to:
THIRST by Lilia Artis

Several people noted that Lilia's piece was not obvious and warranted close examination. Some thought it was difficult to understand, while other found it intriguing. In either case it at least made people stop and think.

The Second Place Award (L$5000) goes to:
THE WATERS OF LIFE by Secret Rage

Secret's evocative connection between the sea and the womb clearly resonated with a lot of people. Her piece received many individual votes, but was not ranked at the top in the voting, and so she misses the top prize by only one point.

Which brings us to the First Place award.

The First Place Award (L$7000) for WATER goes to:

THE BATHING LADIES OF VOYNICH by Hypatia Pickens

Our congratulations to Hypatia! Her rendering of the peculiar words and images from a mysterious indecipherable medieval manuscript was a clear favorite, 

Other artists who ranked strongly in the voting, in no particular order, included Barry Richez's KOI; Dusty Canning's ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT; Finn Lanzius's EVENING SHORE; and Corcosman Voom's BIG FISH.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all who participated in a great show! Please take a final look around before you leave today.  The WATER show will all be gone soon to make room for the FIRE show, opening soon. Thank you all for coming! Have a great day!