Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Abstract Baroque & Merlin Mayo win Scien&Art Physics Prizes!

Merlino Mayo (Italy) & Abstract Baroque (UK) each took home the $L20,000 prizes for winning the inaugural Scien@Art Physics 2010 Competition, challenging all of Second Life to create 3D art objects incorporating Physics principles across a number of categories, Atom, String Theory, Nanotechnology, Big Bang, Electricity and Atom.

This competition headed by Talete Flanagan (Second Physics), Marjorie Fargis (SL Art), Mexi Lane (Experience Italy) and Jayjay Zifanwe (The University of Western Australia), spanned 6 lands hosting each of the catrgories, much thanks to the many collaborators, including Open Science (Noke Yuitza), Alpine Executive Center (Sunset Quinnell), CSW Island (MarkWD Helendale) and USMP (Maximo Eames).



Commenting on Merlino's piece, 'Cosmic Shower', Noke Yuitza observed as to the work, ""Rays transparencies remind us, that every second without pause, our body is crisscrossed by thousands of cosmic rays coming from deep space. Due to this, Merlino invites us to see his Cosmic Shower in a childlike way. The prim-man is irradiated constantly in a gravity ball that, showers it with light, crossing the body, touching our soul."



When asked to describe his work, Abstract Baroque said, "Ambiguity in a piece of work allows the beholder to become a part of the creative process, since they will project into the work and abstract their own interpretation. The art work leads the beholder into the process of re-creation. Some qualities are almost universally understood and interpreted. Eg. Horizontal as passive, diagonal as active, blue colors recessive, warm colors advancing, but beyond this elementary level of experience, subjectivity determines what is seen and felt. I like my work to lead the beholder in this way, and leave them to co-create the result."

These 2 winning pieces, also automatically qualify for the Grand Prize Round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge, which will take place across the month of September 2010.

The Scien&Art Physics competition, also awarded prizes for each of the 6 categories, with a winner selected representing the best scientific interpretation of the theme, as well as the best artistic representation of the theme. Notably, Pol Jarvinen, Jess Oranos & Merlino Mayo won both the best scientific and best artistic interpretation of their categories. The winners of each category are as follows:

BEST SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATION (L$1,000 each)
Atom - Pol Jarvinen
Electricity - Jess Oranos
Cosmic Rays - Merlino mayo
String Theory - Abstract Baroque
Big Bang - Dixit Writer
Nanotechnology - FreeWee Ling

BEST ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION (L$1,000 each)
Atom - Pol Jarvinen
Electricity - Jess Oranos
Cosmic Rays - Merlino mayo
String Theory - Mila Thatam & Rodriguez Imako
Big Bang - MosMax Hax
Nanotechnology - Kolor Fall

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

May Winners of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge

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Nish Rains On Imagine, Eliza Almost Scoops Double

Mankind Tracer wows the crowd at the May Imagine & Flagship Challenge Afterparty

An amazingly immersive and interactive work called UMBRELLAS by Nish Mip of the United Kingdom scooped top honours in the May Round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Imagine Challenge winning both the People's Choice Award as well at the L$5,000 1st Prize in the Imagine Section. Australia's Eliza Wierwight in the meantime, almost became the first person to land the grand double, as her PATRON GALLERY BUILD took the top prize (L$5,000) in the Flagship Section, while also being tied for 2nd prize (L$3,000) in the Imagine Section with her TORSO SERIES (FIRE & WATER).


UMBRELLAS by Nish Mip

Describing Umbrellas, Nish says, "It's that time when umbrellas take on a life of their own. A rainy night in town. I just love that feeling of being dry underneath whilst the rain buckets down above me . Neon lights, the rain, smoky noisy streets, making your way through the crowd to catch the last train home." How true indeed, as one of the judges (Paul Bourke - Director of WASP) commented that he felt drenched when leaving the exhibit as he had not picked up an umbrella.

UWA 3d Art & Design May After party being held int he May Flagship winner:
PATRON GALLERY BUILD by Eliza Wierwight

Eliza was floored as well by her success, "Winning this UWA Flagship Challenge, considering the superb caliber of those that also participated, is such a huge honor. To be rewarded for something I had such an inherent pleasure creating has taken on a surreal dimension for me. When asked recently to expand on my submission to the UWA challenges, my first thought unencumbered by forced rhetoric, is simply that I just love to create. During the chaos of the Award Ceremony, I managed to extend my gratitude to my friends. I am the sum of their generosity in Second Life as anywhere. To the University of Western Australian Judging Panel, I also would like to extend my sincere thanks and respect. I have made some remarkable new friends in this short transition and it seems the treasure in my life is ongoing. I think I will step quietly aside now before this rant of mine takes on annoying an Oscar Night 'will someone shove her off the damn stage' proportions."

The incredible quality of the entries forced the judges to award two 2nd prizes in both the Imagine & Flagship Sections with Cat Boccaccio's sublime SL IDENTITY CRISIS taking 2nd prize in both the Imagine Challenge and the People's Choice, with Dusty Canning's MAY UWA FLAGSHIP & Dijodi Dubratt's UWA BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE being awarded 2nd Prize in the Flagship Section. All these works go into the reckoning for the Grand Prize to be announced in early October.

IDENTITY CRISIS by Cat Boccaccio

"I am thrilled that "Identity Crisis" was understood and appreciated by the panel and by visitors to the gallery, and thank Jayjay and Taralyn and all those who encouraged me to enter. I and my many alts, my many selves, except for Fury, who is never happy, thank you so very much for this award.", said Cat.

OZ WONDERLAND by Nicci Lane

Nicci Lane's piece, OZ WONDERLAND took the Casey Cultural Prize (L$4,000). The Casey judging panel said, " the use of Pindan colours evoked the feeling of the desert borders of the coastal plains and the iron rich north." The piece also includes the floral emblem of Western Australia, the Kangaroo Paw Anigozanthos manglesii. Nicci said of her entry "I just think that the challenges are fantastic, creative and innovative, and I am just happy to have a love of our culture, to have a go, and for someone to appreciate it."

WHITE GODDESS TREE by soror Nishi


soror Nishi, the doyen of Second Life tree lovers became the first person to the Best Non-Scripted Entry Prize for a 2nd time, this time with THE WHITE GODDESS TREE, with Alizarin Goldflake, Kolor Fall, Fuschia Nightfire and Sharni Azalee building on their past successes by picking up the Honourable Mention prizes ($L1,000 each) alongside first time winner Ginger Lorakeet, who won for INSIDE ART.

INSIDE ART by Ginger Lorakeet

Some other exciting developments with the UWA presence were announced at the awards ceremony. Most of the prize money had increased from previous months with a wave of sponsorship flowing in. UWA are grateful to The Residents of Artemisia, through FreeWee Ling who have stepped in to sponsor the People's Choice Award for the rest of the challenge, and this has allowed for the increase in the People's Choice Prize to $1,000L with a 2nd Prize of $500L also being available.


The balloons are released as the winners are announced....

Also, Taralyn Gravois, the newly appointed Director of the 200-seater UWA-BOSL Amphitheater together with an anonymous benefactor (whose works have previously graced this challenge) have further contributed such that the 2nd prizes increased to $L3,000 and all the honourable mention prizes increased to $L1,000.

Mankind Tracer played a great set of Live Music for the after party taking requests from the audience.
He also did a great job of supplying some background tunes for the announcements.

It was also announced that UWA had secured a plot for SLB7 (Second Life Birthday 7) on SLB7 Enigma, with challenge curator quadrapop Lane planning for a revue of the challenge thus far. This will be open from 10:00 a.m. SLT on Monday 21 June 2010.

The UWA partnership with Second Physics, SL Art and Experience Italy for the Science & Art Physics Competition has reached the public vote stage for the 31 artworks submitted across 6 sims. That is a fascinating exhibition of Physics works divided into 6 categories ATOM, BIG BANG, COSMIC RAYS, ELECTRICITY, NANOTECHNOLOGY and STRINGS, with UWA Hosting the Nanotechnology section with TP's to the
other areas available there.

The relatively young UWA presence, did stunningly well to be not only nominated but also shortlisted for the 2010 Linden Prize. Jay Jay Zifanwe commented, "I want to acknowledge all of you here today, as, in my opinion it is the collective force of the art that has driven UWA to being selected in the top 10 for the 2010 Linden Prize from 130 nominations. It was an honour to be among so many other wonderful SL projects".

A major development from this is the teaming up of 2 of the Linden Prize finalists, UWA & Archivist Lewellyn (of the National Space Society) for The National Space Society's 'NSS in SL' machinima contestant exhibition showing and award ceremony, which celebrates the mission of the NSS for space exploration and the technical and artistic expertise of machinima artists, with the winner walking away with a L$100,000 prize. This will take place at the 200 seater UWA-BOSL Amphitheater at 2pm slt on the 12th of June. This partnership is another exercise in serendipity as the NSS Machinima event was inspired by UWA's own Machinima Challenge which completed early this year.

The UWA Imagine Landing pavilion and party crowd

With 9 months complete of this year long challenge, the Grand Prize judging looms large, and the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge also welcomed 3 new judges to the Grand Prize panel, namely Dr Gary Zabel (Georg Janick - SL) of the University of Masachusetts one of UWA's RL/SL partners, Saffia Widdershins, Owner and Editor of Prim Perfect Publications and Jordan Whitt - Editor in Chief of ICON Lifestyle Magazine.


Winners of the May round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge:

IMAGINE CHALLENGE - 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize:
($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
UMBRELLAS by Nish Mip




Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize:
($L3,000) JOINT
IDENTITY CRISIS by Cat Boccaccio




TORSO SERIES (FIRE & WATER) by Eliza Wierwight



Best Non-Scripted Entry:
($L3,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
THE WHITE GODDESS TREE by Soror Nishi




FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE - BUILDING DESIGN

Flagship Challenge 1st Prize:
($L5,000)
THE PATRON GALLERY BUILD by Eliza Wierwight



Flagship Challenge 2nd Prize:
($L3,000) JOINT
UWA BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE by Dijodi Dubratt


MAY UWA FLAGSHIP by Dusty Canning


MAY UWA FLAGSHIP by Dusty Canning
(find the secret Noob - IM quadrapop Lane in SL with a snapshot of him and win a prize :)



Honourable Mention Prize for ELEGANCE
(L$1,000)
CYBORG SCHOLAR by Fuschia Nightfire

Fuschia Nightfire





Honourable Mention Prize for IMMERSION
(L$1,000)
AT THE END OF THE DAY by Alizarin Goldflake






Honourable Mention Prize for THE ART & I ARE ONE
(L$1,000)
INSIDE ART by Ginger Lorakeet

Ginger Lorakeet





Honourable Mention Prize for EMOTION
(L$1,000)
I SEE YOU by Sharni Azalee

Photo courtesy of Sharni Alazee

Photo courtesy of Sharni Alazee


Honourable Mention Prize for MAGIC
(L$1,000)
QUANTUM NUMBERS by Kolor Fall/Patrick Faith

Kolor Fall with Quantum Numbers in background

Quantum Numbers by Kolor Fall (at night)


CASEY PRIZE - MAY
(L$4,000)
OZ WONDERLAND by Nicci Lane
Nicci Lane winner of the May Casey Cultural prize






PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
1st prize (L$1,000):
UMBRELLAS by Nish Mip




PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
2nd prize (L$500):
IDENTITY CRISIS by Cat Boccaccio



Monday, May 24, 2010

UWA in SL on Linden Prize Short List

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University of Western Australia has been shortlisted for the prestigious Linden Prize. Also reported on The Science Network WA & on the main UWA Website

On finding out about the Linden Prize nomination Jay Jay Jegathesan (Manager School of Physics) AKA JayJay Zifanwe in SL said:
"None of this would be possible without the incredible support of all the 'Angels' who have dropped in at various points in the evolution of UWA within the Virtual world. From those in real life Professor Alan Robson, Professor Ted Snell, Professor Ian McArthur, Dr Chris Thorne, Paul Bourke to the wondrous avatars of Second Life, quadrapop Lane, Raphaella Nightfire, White Lebed and others from around the world too numerous to name. This has been an amazing journey and adventure, yet the journey has only truly just begun"


Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.
Goethe


Since mid 2009 efforts have been expended daily on this project with monumental support from an international team in both Real Life (RL) and in Second Life (SL). There has been tireless efforts to promote the UWA sims in both RL and in SL. The UWA sims are mix of RL recreations of some of the University's signature buildings and distinctly Second Life virtual builds (where in Real Life do buildings hang unsupported in the sky, or where they are made entirely of what appears to be solid light?)




Projects that have been instrumental in this nomination are:

Art & Design Challenge
The year long Imagine Challenge grew out of discussions between JayJay and Prof Ted Snell of UWA in August 2009 and has grown to become the largest art competition in Second Life with over 50 entries in each monthly round. In the process this Challenge has brought together various collaborations and unlikely unions of skill. It is co-hosted by Jayjay Zifanwe and quadrapop Lane in SL. There is an impressive list of judges for both the monthly rounds and grand final competition.

UWA 3d A&D Gallery on UWA sim in April 2010

THE IMAGINE CHALLENGE (Art & Design Challenge)
(Prize amounts in SL Linden Dollars)
Monthly Prizes:
L$5,000 + RL Custom Tshirt (1st Prize)
L$4,000 Casey Cultural prize (Best work displaying Western Australia)
L$1,250 + RL Custom TShirt (Best non-Scripted entry) ,
L$1,250 (2nd Prize)
L$500 People's Choice Award
Grand Prize:
L$75,000 (1st)
L$14,000 (2nd),
L$14,000 (Best non-Scripted entry)


Flagship Building Challenge


Patch Thibaud Flagship Design - winner of the December round of the Flagship Challenge

Run in conjunction with the Imagine Challenge the Flagship Challenge is to create a concept build/model for UWA's RL Cultural Precinct. This Challenge has attracted a small but loyal following of some of the best builders in SL, and given some non-architects the opportunity to display their ideas for a RL building.

FLAGSHIP PRIZES (Architectural competition)
(Prize amounts in SL Linden Dollars)
Monthly Prize:
L$5,000 (1st)
L$1,250 (2nd)
Grand Prize:
L$75,000 (1st)
L$14,000 (2nd)

Machinima Challenge



The Machinima Challenge (Machinima are videos made inside SL and shown both outside and inside SL) was open to all SL machinima makers. Their Challenge was to create a Machinima of up to 5 minutes in length that captured the 4 main elements that make up the heart of the University of Western Australia sims. These elements are: the RL architecture, the teaching, the research, and the arts. The purpose would be to show that UWA's presence in SL is comprehensive and covering all these areas, creating true bridges between SL & RL for prospective students, current students, staff, alumni & the community.

There was a lot of interest in this Challenge with the prize money more than doubling thanks to donations by interested parties within the first few weeks of the competition period. The final winning entries can be seen here.

MACHINIMA CHALLENGE PRIZES
L$65,000 (1st)
L$44,000 (2nd),
L$42,000 (3rd)

Teaching

The Skytheatre - main lecture space in UWA in SL on the Uni of WA sim

Professor Wade Halvorson of the School of Business and Professor Mark Pegrum of the Graduate School of Education are already using the second life sims as part of their courses and will soon be joined by lecturers from several other schools including Law.

Research


Tranguloid Trefoil (RL - Paul Bourke) is using the WASP Land sim as a base to explore the possibilities of 3D scientific visualisation using some 3d software to create the "sculpties" used to represent the data in SL where it can then be manipulated or discussed. John Goldsmith arranged an exhibition in both SL and RL Physics buildings of Starlight photographic exhibition which opened on 20 Aug 2009.


Image by Paul Burke of John Goldsmith's Starlight Exhibition Opening, Physics UWAinSL



Networking & RL/SL Partnerships
Memorandums of Understanding
University of Texas San Antonio and University of Massachusetts and University of Western Australia have MOUs for the SecondLife collaborative projects they are involved in - these are in effect in practice and going through RL legal process.

One of the projects UWA collaborated on with Uni of Massachesetts was the Through the Virtual Looking Glass, one part of which being the exhibition in both RL and SL of M Linden's art (Mark Kingdom - CEO of Linden labs) at UWA and in UWAinSL's Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.


M Linden at the opening of his DoodleArt exhibition in the UWA in SL Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery

Also a part of the same exhibition was the collaboration between UWA's Len Zuks and SL resident Miso Susanowa - recreating 2 of Len's RL sculptures in SL.


Miso Susanowa's "Lil Eizenstein" and "MegaByte" on display in February 2010.

Also a wonderful mooting space created by Nyx Breen for the the Faculty of Law (UWA), led to a collaboration with the University of Western Sydney who sought to film an SL moot in the virtual world to display at an international conference.




UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre

The UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, stage on one sim, seating on the three adjoining sims


Frolic Mills - SecondLife CEO of Best of Second Life (BOSL) combined forces with Jayjay Zifanwe and architect Patch Thibaud to create a huge 4 sim meeting place - the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre which is capable of hosting up to 200 avatars across the 4 sims. The Amphitheatre was opened on 8 May 2010 by Frolic Mills, Jayjay Zifanwe and Patch Thibaud with entertainment by one of SL's leading live performers Mankind Tracer. The Amphitheatre is available free to any non-profit event that promotes the arts, sciences or education. Bookings to the Amphitheatre Director, Taralyn Gravois in SL.



Second Physics Italy



Scien&Art competition - UWA is hosting the nanotechnology entries on UWA Winthrop - as part of a collaboration with: Second Physics, SL Art (Marjorie Fargis) and Experience Italy. More information about this competition available in SL at the Second Physics sim



SLEnglish



Kip Yellowjacket from SLEnglish is heading up a sim wide language teaching laboratory with language teachers from around the world using the sim to teach people across the globe various langauges. The UWA VIRTLANTIS sim was opened on Sunday 14 March 2010 and features the tallest sculpture in SL DanCoyote Antonelli's "Tower of Light."

Sponsorship
There are many individuals and companies who help sponsor the activities of the University within SL. What follows is a list of the biggest contributors in time and/or money, other than the University itself, the list if far from exhaustive but indicates the large numbers of people who help make UWA what it is.

in no particular order:
In SL
Phillip Vought
MidnightRain Glas
FreeWee Ling
Taralyn Gravois
Raphaella Nightfire
quadrapop Lane
White Lebed
Nyx Breen
Lilli Field
Ourania Fizgig
CaptainCrunch hax
Sasun Steinbeck

In RL
Prof Ted Snell
Prof Alexandra Ludewig
Colin Campbell Fraser
Frank Roberts
John Barret-Lennard
Paul Bourke
Oron Catts
Prof Alan Robson
Prof Ian McArthur
Prof William Ford
Casey Family of Western Australia - sponsor
Prof Wade Halvorson
A/Prof Mark Pegrum
Evgeni Sergeev
Chris Thorne
David Gaze
Minh Tran
Bradley Curnow
Micheal Flynn
Greg Salotti
VR Shed Pty Ltd
www.etshirts.com

and many, many more....

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Taralyn Gravois Appointed Director of the 4-Sim UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre

Taralyn Gravois Appointed Director of the 4-Sim UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre



The University of Western Australia is proud to announce the appointment of Taralyn Gravois, as Director of the 4-SIM UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre. As described during the launch, the Theatre is a space that is offered free to groups wanting to hold events linked to the Arts or Education so long as the events are altruistic in nature and not business oriented. The space is also available free to all groups wanting to host events for charity. Taralyn would be the first point of contact for anyone wishing to use the theatre for any of these purposes.

Commenting on the appointment, "UWA's interaction with SL's art world is what brought me to the campus. Once I met the staff, I knew I would love to be a part of this visionary process. UWA has made it a point to bring the international flare, available in SL, to its students and faculty. I'm really looking forward to helping groups hold events at the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre.", said Taralyn.



A true lover of the arts and an avatar collector, she has been in Second Life since August 2008. "I came here to see if it would be a good venue for a friend of mine to sell her artwork. I found that not only is it a great place to sell art, it is a wonderful place to display ones creativity in general. I love how each SIM is a glimpse into someone's imagination. The technical aspects of being able to create almost anything you can dream up, is amazing. Not only do you get to see 2D art from around the world, your ability to interact with 3D art is out of this world. I wish I had the art collection I have in SL in RL."

Coupled with her previous experience of running 4-SIM Theatres in SL is her RL work where she was a television producer in a broadcasting career spanning 16 years. She also worked in public relations for politicians and state agencies, and her incredible diversity also spread to her work in promotions at the Columbus Zoo, in the US, which spurred her life-long commitment to conservation.

The UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre is located here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA%20Winthrop/243/242/1638

It was built by Patch Thibaud as part of a collaboration between the University of Western Australia and the Best of Second Life (BOSL), led by Frolic Mills.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

A stunning Iono Allen Machinima of the April winners

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Iono Allen has made another record of the latest set of winning entries in the UWA Imagine Challenge.





You can see the video here.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Julez Torments IMAGINE! Lili pips Nyx: April Winners of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge

Julez torments IMAGINE! Lili pips Nyx at the line:
April Winners of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge



A chilling work where a demon captures your soul, by Julez Odigaunt has taken the top IMAGINE Arts prize ($L5,000) for the April round of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge. The piece, JULIA'S MAGIC MIRROR - DEMON, beat out an amazing field of 67 international artists, including past IMAGINE winner Glyph Graves who took out 2nd prize with his incredible immersive work, ORGANIC RECURVE. Meanwhile in the FLAGSHIP building design challenge Lili Field's EYE OF THE BEHOLDER managed to stop an unprecedented 5th win for Nyx Breen, whose UWA AxS Lab was pipped at the post into 2nd place.

Going one better than her runners-up prize in the March round, Julia said, "What a great honor! I was quite shocked. The initial Mirror was inspired by a dark yet whimsical gypsy circus which Atomic Gaffer built. Then I decided to go darker, more haunting and it is the exact reaction that I aimed for that folks received when they interacted with the mirror. Thank you UWA for this wonderful honor and acknowledgment."

Following the announcements yesterday at the traditional winners announcement party at the UWA SIM, Lili was shocked at her win, and the ever gracious Nyx said, "Once again UWA is an exciting wonderful experience all should partake in. To the artist and builders a wonderful job."

Two-thirds into the year long challenge, the judging panel had a very tough time of it with amazing pieces across the board. Sharni Azalee, whose piece, THE ABYSS, won the non-scripted prize said, "A woman's handbag, the mystifying abyss, where the bravest of men fear to tread. I was honored to receive the award for non scripted exhibit and overjoyed that so many men took the challenge and entered the dark realms of a woman's handbag ;) it's ok, we wont make u carry them :). Thank you to all at UWA, your support and encouragement has allowed me to find a place that I can express myself in a way I never knew possible."

"I would like to thank the Academy... oh sorry. wrong award. I'm humbled and thankful and now I'm motivated to try to top this work.". said the Wizard Gynoid, ever the joker in romping her way to the Honourable Mention Prize for Synchronicity with her piece ANIMATED E8,

Italian artist Gleman Jun (Honourable Mention : 10 SECONDS OF SL), on the other hand was philosophical, "Creation becomes art only when it meets the recognition by those who appreciate it. Wining this prize means discovering that one has taken the right path towards the realization of oneself."

Samara Borkotron and Gumby Roffo were the winners of the$L4,000 Casey Prize (artworks representing an aspect of Western Australia) for March and for April, while The People's Choice Award was won by the effervescent Miso Susanowa, and her LADY WITH FAN. "I am very honored that my Lady, who danced into my world, pleases so many people as she did me when I saw her first in a single prim. I am also honored to be among such great artists and the wonderful and heartening work and support of Jayjay, Quadrapop and the UWA for all artists."

Other winners include Ivy Lane, Daco Monday, Maya Paris and Glamorama Flux (whose work ART ATTACK was the first ever piece she has had on display)

Some other exciting developments with the UWA presence were announce at the awards ceremony. First of all, the Universiy of Western Australia in RL celebrates its centenerary in 2011. For this 100 year anniversary, a special hard cover glossy book is being produced called 'UWA's 100 Treasures' and the 'UWA presence in Second Life' has been selected to be one of those treasures!

Also on the 8th of May 2010, the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre, a space dedicated for not-for-profit Art, Education & Charity events was officially launched. Built by Patch Thibaud, this beautiful new venue has been set up jointly by Best of Second Life (BOSL) and the Unversity of Western Australia (UWA) as part of UWA's and BOSL's aims of community service and support of Education and the Arts.

This space will be available free of charge for anyone wanting to organize such events.

Taralyn Gravois has been appointed as Director of the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre. She has run a 4 SIM theatre in the past, and has a deep love and respect for the arts. In RL she was an award winning television producer for more than a decade. Anyone wanting to run events at the theatre, please contact her.

A partnership has also been formed between UWA, Second Physics and SL Art and Experience Italy for a Science & Art Competition for which registrations close on the 12th of May. The Competition aims to create artworks that communicate scientific concepts, with this first edition devoted to Physics. This is very important to UWA, as the UWA's SL project is led by the School of Physics. Anyone interested in taking part do send registrations to Majorie Fargis by the 12th of May. Professor Franco Fabbri (RL), a Visiting Scientist at CERN who works on elementary particles, is one of the key people behind this effort.

The University of Western Australia would like to thank the Cultural Precinct at the University of Western Australia, ShedworX.com, the Casey Family of Western Australia, www.etshirts.com, MidnightRain Glas, Sasun Steinbeck, Galea Yates, Tranguloid Trefoil, Lowell Cremorne & Phillip Vought for their continued support of the UWA3D Art & Design Challenge

WINNERS OF THE APRIL ROUND OF THE UWA 3D ART & DESIGN CHALLENGE

IMAGINE CHALLENGE - 3D ART

Imagine Challenge 1st Prize:
($L5,000 + Custom T-Shirt)
JULIA'S MAGIC MIRROR - DEMON by Julez Odigaunt




Imagine Challenge 2nd Prize:
($L1,250)
ORGANIC RECURVE by Glyph Graves



Best Non-Scripted Entry:
($L1,250 + Custom T-Shirt)
THE ABYSS by Sharni Azalee




FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE - BUILDING DESIGN
Flagship Challenge 1st Prize :
($L5,000)
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER by Lilli Field



Flagship Challenge 2nd Prize :
($L1,250)
AxS GALLERY by Nyx Breen



Honourable Mention Prize for GATEWAY TO THE SOUL
(L$500)
10 SECONDS OF SL by Gleman Jun



Honourable Mention Prize for SYNCHRONICITY
(L$500)
ANIMATED E8 by The Wizard Gynoid



Honourable Mention Prize for CHARITY
(L$500)
HELPING HANDS by Ivy Lane



Honourable Mention Prize for COLOUR
(L$500)
LUCE E COLORI by Daco Monday



Honourable Mention Prize for TEXTURE & INTERACTION
(L$500)
NIGHT BIRD by Maya Paris



THE ANTON MESMER Honourable Mention Prize
(L$500)
ART ATTACK by Glamorama Flux



CASEY PRIZE - MARCH
(L$4,000)
JUXTAPOSED by Samara Borkotron



CASEY PRIZE - APRIL
(L$4,000)
ROUND HOUSE by Gumby Roffy



APRIL PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
(L$500):
LADY WITH FAN by Miso Susanowa