Misprint Thursday wins 2011 UWA 3D Open Art Challenge!

Misprint Thursday's multimedia work Digital Glove won the day! Photo by PJ Trenton.

I am not the best builder, the best with textures, the best video editor, certainly not the best singer; but I am inspired by the medium. It is a fantastic opportunity to extend one’s creativity and connect with a world of forward thinking people.

-Misprint Thursday, on winning the UWA

Misprint Thursday’s incredible work Digital Glove has taken the top award at the 2011 Grand Finale of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, a prize worth $100,000L! Not only that, she took 5th place as well with her work Paranormal Frottage, tying with Glyph Graves’ Excerpts from Reality, bringing Misprint’s prize pool to an impressive $107,500!

Paranormal Frottage by Misprint Thursday. Photo by PJ Trenton.

Misprint was of course thrilled at her win, but also humbly added, “Basically I want to say that the medium is so underused as a whole to it’s full capacity, and I can’t wait for someone way better than me to blow it all out of the water, actually.”

You can learn more about Misprint and her work when I interview her live, this Friday at the Christmas Expo, 3SLT! She is always great fun to chat with!

Second Place went to In Dreams by Blue Tsuki. Photo by PJ Trenton.

The rest of the top ten represented some of the very best of virtual art. The second prize of $75,000L went to Blue Tsuki for his work In Dreams, while third ($40,000L) went to Oberon Onmura for The Chasm. The stunning Strange Plant… Ugliness & Beauty by Claudia222 Jewell took fourth place ($30,000L).

Strange Planet...Uglyness and Beauty by claudia222 Jewell. Photo by PJ Trenton.

There was also a specific category for unscripted entries, and Gingered Alsop’s Shattered took the top prize here (it was as well the only unscripted entry in the overall top ten).

Shattered by Gingered Alsop. Photo by PJ Trenton.

The Machinima winners were also announced, and the top prize was taken by Tutsy Navarantha for Welcome to the Other Side.

As well, Curator FreeWee Ling shared the following video in which she highlighted some of the artists whose work profoundly affected her this year, and she also includes an important announcement about the future of the UWA challenges:

The year-long University of Western Australia (UWA) 3D Open Art Challenge, with its $4,000 USD (L$1,400,000) prize pool, attracted 858 entries by artists from 24 nations around the globe, with every continent but Antarctica being represented. The companion MachinimUWA IV: Art of the Artists, with entries relating to the artworks that have formed part of the UWA 3D Open Art Challenge, has seen 83 machinimas submitted by artists from Pondicherry (India) to Gdansk (Poland) to Kentucky (USA) to Buenos Aires (Argentina) and many more. Both these challenges came to a finale at 6AM SLT  Sunday the 11th of December at the 200-seat UWA-BOSL Grand Amphitheatre, hosted by UWA founder Jayjay Zifanwe (Jay Jay Jegathesan, Manager of the School of Physics, University of Western Australia).

For the Grand Finale, 59 artworks were shortlisted for the overall 1st prize of L$100,000, along with a further 24 for the non-scripted category. The 35-member international judging panel for the challenge was led by Professor Ted Snell, Director of UWA’s Cultural Precinct, and Chair of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. Click here for a full list of the members of the judging panel as well as the artworks in contention for the Grand Finale.

Here is the complete list of winners, including the winning machinimas. Congratulations to all of the winners, and a special congrats to Jayjay Zifanwe and FreeWee Ling for doing an outstanding job this year; and as well to Lapiscean Liberty at AView TV for all the hard work supporting the Machinima Challenge! The 3D will continue to be on display at the UWA for the rest of the month. Don’t miss seeing these incredible works!

UWA 3D OPEN ART CHALLENGE (OVERALL)
1st Prize (L$100,000): DIGITAL GLOVE by Misprint Thursday – 70 points
2nd Prize (L$75,000): IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki – 69 points
3rd Prize (L$40,000): THE CHASM by Oberon Onmura – 44 points
4th Prize (L$30,000): STRANGE PLANT…UGLYNESS & BEAUTY by Claudia222 Jewel – 43 points
5th Prize (L$7,500): PARANORMAL FROTTAGE by Misprint Thursday – 39 points:
5th Prize (L$7,500): EXCERPTS FROM REALITIES by Glyph Graves – 39 points
7th Prize (L$5,000): NOT EVERYTHING IS PLAIN BLACK & WHITE by Fuschia Nightfire   – 34 points
8th Prize (L$5,000): FANTASIA EN LA SOMBRA by Romy Nayar – 29 points
8th Prize (L$5,000): IL PLEUT SUR MON COEUR COMME IL PLEUT SUR LA VILLE (“It’s raining in my heart, as it’s raining in the town”) by Cherry Manga  – 29 points
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): HARMONIES IN C GREAT(+) by Artistide Despres – 28 points
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): TROIS PETITS TOURS ET PUIS S’EN VA (Three little turns and it goes away) by  Josiane Sorciere  – 28 points
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): THE DOCK SPIRIT by Scottius Polke – 28 points
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): VENUSTRAP by Claudia222 Jewell – 28 points
10th Prize JOINT (L$1,000): SHATTERED by Ginger Also – 28 points

UWA 3D OPEN ART CHALLENGE (NON-SCRIPTED)
1st Prize (L$15,000): SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop – 105 points
2nd Prize (L$10,000): YOU CAN’T TOUCH HEAVEN by paleillusion – 102 points
3rd Prize (L$5,000): 99% by Harter Fall – 82 points
4th Prize (L$3,000): THE REVOLT OF THE MANNEQUINS by Silene Christen – 63 points
5th Prize (L$2,000): MARIONETTE by Haveit Neox – 62 points:
6th Prize (L$1,000): SMALL PIECE OF HELL: The Suicide Forest Infested by Harpias by Rebeca Bashly – 61 points
7th Prize (L$1,000): SPRING BOX by Cherry Manga – 58 points
8th Prize (L$1,000): DAUGHTER OF THE WIND by Fae Varriale – 51 points
9th Prize (L$1,000): MISS N by Suzanne Graves – 45 points
9th Prize (L$1,000): BIRDSONG by Cherry Manga – 45 points

UWA 3D Art People’s Choice Award, (Overall)
1st Prize (L$15,000): THE MATTER OF IDEAS by Gleman Jun – 64 points
2nd Prize JOINT (@L$6,500): VENUSTRAP by Claudia222 Jewell – 62 points
2nd Prize JOINT (@L$6,500): IN DREAMS by Blue Tsuki – 62 points

UWA 3D Art People’s Choice Award, (Non-Scripted)
1st Prize (L$8,000): SMALL PIECE OF HELL: The Suicide Forest Infested by Harpias by Rebeca Bashly – 112 points
2nd Prize (L$5,000): SHATTERED by Ginger Alsop – 92 points
3rd Prize JOINT (@L$1,500): YOU CAN’T TOUCH HEAVEN by paleillusion – 67 points
3rd Prize JOINT (@L$1,500): SPRING BOX by Cherry Manga – 67 points

MachinimUWA IV: 1st Prize (L$60,000) – 63 Points
WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE by Tutsy Navarathna
(see above)

MachinimUWA IV: 2nd Prize (L$40,000) – 47 Points
ARTWASHERS by FRIDAY SIAMENDES of California
http://vimeo.com/28513091

MachinimUWA IV: 3rd Prize (L$30,000) – 42 Points
ART OF THE ARTISTS by Fuschia Nightfire of Dorset, England

MACHINIMUWA IV:  JOINT 4th Prize (@L$22,500) – 35 Points
QUBIT: COGNITIVE DISTORTION by spyVspy of Lisbon, Portugal:

VIRTUAL LOVE by Iono Allen, from the land of Amore, France:

MachinimUWA IV Special Award for  EMOTION (L$19,000)
YEAH by Hypatia Pickens of the Unites States

MachinimUWA IV Special Award for BREAKING THE BARRIERS (L$19,000)
TRANSFORMATION VIRTUAL ART ON THE BRINK by L1aura Loire / Dr Lori Landay, from the College of Music, Berkeley, USA

MachinimUWA IV Special Award for THE SOUL (L$19,000)
DUAL by Veruca Vandyke of Arkansas, USA

MachinimUWA IV ANTON MESMER Special Award (L$19,000)
A PLACID OCEAN OF UNCERTAIN LIBERTIES by Cecil Hirvi, Citizen of the Universe.

MachinimUWA IV Special Award for THE HUMAN HEART (L$19,000)
LOVE PRAYER by Hypatia Pickens

UWA 3D Open Art Challenge – Audience Participation
1st Prize (@L5,000): LILIA ARTIS – 47 points
2nd Prize (@L3,000): ARROW INGLEWOOD – 39 points
3rd Prize JOINT (@L1,000): LOQUACIA LOON – 36 points
3rd Prize JOINT (@L1,000): NUBDIEST RESIDENT – 36 points

MachinimUWA IV – Audience Participation
1st Prize (L$10,000): LALA LARIX – 66 points
2nd Prize (L$6,000): PIXIE RAIN – 58 points
3rd Prize (L$4,000): LALIE SORBET – 54 points.