The ad in the paper said simply, "creativity wanted." That was in June and since then the Image Factory has received over 30 entries for its art prize. The best in each category was promised 500 dollars and now the winners have been announced. Gilvano Swasey was one of the jurists and he told us which pieces jumped out at them.
Gilvano Swasey,
"Whenever we presented this project, I had many people trying to figure out what to do when I told them we just want you to create and they wanted to know what size, what's the theme, what materials to use, and we said to just do anything and I think that was the greatest greatest challenge in this whole project. We got about five pieces that we were very excited about and satisfied about."
Those 5 are for sculpture Alfonso Galvez's 'Untitled' in mixed media, Manalo Daza's 'Legacy,' in photography Jon Ottley's 'Crooked Tree Triptych,' for video the kids of Caracol stop motion animation short film fungus farmers about leaf cutter ants, and for painting Curvin Mitchell's "Hands."
Curvin Mitchell, Hands
"I got the idea from Animal Planet, they showed hand painting and that is how come I came up with the idea to do this, to hand paint and then the framing I did was out in San Pedro from the driftwood because it is unique and different from those traditional paintings that you just throw around the painting."
And before this year's winners are out the door, Swasey can't wait to see what's next.
Gilvano Swasey,
"It is all about pushing the limit and taking what is ordinary and making it extra ordinary."
The competition will be an annual event.
