FreeWee Ling wins top honours at June UWA 3-D Art and Design Challenge

Photos courtesy of UWA Curator quadrapop Lane

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. – FreeWee Ling

The winners of the June UWA Challenge were announced yesterday, and FreeWee Ling’s brilliant Vertical Spiral Kaleidoscope has won the 1st prize for the IMAGINE challenge of L$5,000 and a custom t-shirt.  UWA Owner Jayjay Zifanwe noted that kaleidoscopes had been entered throughout the competition, but that the chief judge, Professor Ted Snell, Director of the UWA Cultural precinct, commented that ‘none of them intrigued him as much as this one’.  Ling also commented on the popularity of kaleidoscopes:

“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.”

There was a tie for the 2nd place winner of the IMAGINE challenge, between Einstein’s Unfinished Symphony by Gleman Jun, and Sierpinsky Sieve by Takni Miklos.  Miklos was also the inaugural winner of the RAIN PRIZE ($L1,000). MidnightRain Glas, one of the founding patrons of the UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge and after whom the Rain Prize is named, commented: “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.”

If that wasn’t enough, Miklos shared the 2nd prize in the People’s Choice award with Jerhi Rahja for A Beautiful Soul Passes, the first time there has been a tie in this category. First prize went to Lea Supermarine and Jarapanda Snook’s Music of the Spheres.

The Flagship (Architecture) Challenge ended with a tie this month as well, as the builds of Nyx Breen and Herrick Straaf had the judging panel hopelessly deadlocked, thus resulting in the first ever joint winners for this prize. Herrick is a first time winner, but Nyx has an incredible 5 wins across the 10 months of the challenge. Nicci Lane took 2nd Prize in the June Flagship Challenge.

June concludes the 10th month of this year long L$550,000 challenge, and saw 68 amazing Imagine artworks and 7 Flagship builds submitted by artists hailing from all corners of the globe, including by a number legendary SL builders. Through June, the challenges have seen Artists & Builders hailing from Mexico, Wales, Canada, the USA, the UK, Uruguay, Scotland,England, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Denmark,Holland, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Cuba, Serbia, Tunisia, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.

A number of other prizes were also given out. Medusa’s Gaze by pravda Core took the $L3,000 for Best Non-Scripted Imagine entry, and Core has already submitted another entry for July.

Round 11, the July round, is the penultimate round and is officially open for submissions.  More information can be found at the UWA in Second Life website, along with pictures of all the winners, but make sure to visit these amazing works while they are up!