Cyberspace Competition II Winners

1st Place, Ryan Buyssens, Resistance

 1^st Place- Ryan Buyssens - Resistance, laser- sintered polyamide, carbon fiber, titanium, aluminum, aircraft plywood, electric motor, proximity sensor, and microcontroller

2nd Place, Blake Johnson, The Face of the Future

2^nd Place- Blake Johnson - The Face of the Future, digital interactive art

3^rd Place- Misty Coss - Embryo, ink on metal

Honorable Mentions

Dave Littell- Elegy II, digital image

Jessica Balindo- Music. Passion. Love. Life, digital image

Merit Awards

Tammy Jewell- Pearl Red, digital photography

Rebecca Zeiss- Untitled One, Resonance Of The Machinist, ultra violet printing ink on brushed aluminum

Logan Mooney- Medusa, vector illustration

Director Awards

3rd Place, Misty Coss, Embryo

Alison Bur- Transience, digital photography

David Janssen Jr. – Bliss, mixed media

Tammy Jewell- The Beauty of It, digital photography

Gaoxee Stephanie Yang- Be the Jewel of Your Own Beauty, digital photo manipulation

Erin Case with Jim Cherewick- No Taste, collage/mp3

Randal Crawford

Competition judge

Film Noir- giclee print on metal

Caffeinated- giclee print on metal

Randal Crawford currently teaches at Delta College, with a MFA in fibers from Cranbrook Academy of Art. His pieces vary in media from woven fibers to digital. His pieces currently on display are creating using the giclee method, which are images created from high resolution digital scans and printed with quality inks onto various supports. To see more of his work please visit, randalcrawford.com, and stop in the gallery to see his work on display.

Artist Statement

A line never ends. It just goes through different processes and changes. Roots, branches, and trees are, to me, the most powerful line drawings. My art and my life, materialistically and mentally, are like a stream: always in a state of flux. I like to think about that as the materials flow together, and I let the piece take me where it should go.

Randal Crawford, Film Noir left, and Caffeinated right

The architect of nature guides me. I am enthralled with its chaotic repetition and distinguishing patterns from ever-changing reality. There is comfort in bringing order to chaos. I try to control and manipulate what is found naturally and incorporate that into my pieces. Everything in nature is connected, even though it suggests individuality. I feel that a piece is truly complete when my research, process, and thoughts have truly came to life.

The impetus for my work is the unveiling of levels through layers, slicing, burning, piercing, slices, breaks, and tears. My wood sculptures are gouged and scored as if employed by native rivers and streams, altering their form obsessively till their shape emphasizes details and surfaces that many times represent experiences or people. The cracks, chips, marks and textures expose those experiences, though many times their importance is only apparent to me. My favorite materials are the ones I can affect. Through plotting spaces and shapes, the marks become a language. It maps an emotional journal that one cannot just look past, but its symbolism stops and engages the viewer in a search for its meaning.

When doing certain techniques, I never know how it will turn out in the end, so it is always a journey. It is always a result and that is the excitement. My weavings are inspired by the techniques and aspirations of the African Kente cloth and other indigenous historical textile methods. Throughout history cloth has been utilized as a structure and means of recording history. When pen and ink were not readily available, families passed reflections of community, national beliefs and their meanings through textiles. Even though the lines and shapes seem abstract, there is a story behind them. Like in history, the stripes represent recordings of certain times and experiences for me.

The color theory I employ in my work emphasizes and aggressively balances tensions and forces movement. The visual impact of objects stitched in and entwined into each other speaks of a sequence and a story. I am often impressed by boundaries and how their juxtaposition entitles invasion and outvasion.

I often exhibit my work in grids and stacking. I think about that as I make my digital pieces which technically are an assembly of pixels aligned in a grid. Even weavings use grids. I incorporate very personal images and symbols that are often obscured from their literal meaning, but by their layering and composition yield the vitality of my proclamation.

As an artist, I am connecting colors, dreams, and experiences and looking at the world in a new ways and how I can express my experiences, my questions. In a sense I have a relationship with each piece I create. The true attraction lies in the desire to challenge myself to go from concept to reality.

A lot of my work is intuitive. I problem solve as I go. I allow it to speak to me and it presents me with problems; it comforts me with surprises. I am the creator. I listen to my work, I try to see what my work wants to achieve. The older I get, the more experiences I have to draw from. Like the line and stream, my art and my life is always changing.

Buyssens's piece in motion

Ryan Buyssens’s piece Resistance has surprised viewers since it’s arrival. Buyssen’s piece is a mechanical wonder, with its motion sensor and wings that mimic the movement of a bird in flight. As soon as someone steps in front of the piece the wings spring to action and wave, with most viewers asking if it can actually fly. Most are startled when the piece springs to life, others stand in front of it captivated and watch as the wings move up and down. The piece is simple and clean and full of imagination, inviting the viewer to stay for a while and wonder.

Different view of Johnson's piece

Professor Blake Johnson’s piece, Face of the Future is an interactive piece inviting the viewer to click the mouse and reveal different sounds, photos and colors changing the images on the three part head. One image shows a self portrait of Johnson in full, while the other sections move and reveal other images, colors and sounds. The sounds include cat noises, snaps, and other animated sounds. And the images vary from different glasses and mustaches, to different heads and eyes.

Misty Coss’s piece Embryo is printed on a metal surface and is given the appearance of a floating embryo, making the viewer question the integrity of the image and its meaning. The metal creates a reflective surface for the image and also a different texture allowing for a sense of roughness and age that really adds to the image as being an actual floating embryo or not a clear precise image of this world. Overall, Coss's piece invites the viewer to stay awhile and ponder the meaning.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to all who submitted! Also a big thank you to our judge Randy Crawford! The artist reception for this exhibit will be Thursday, March 13th starting at 4:30 until 6:30 pm, there will be live music and refreshments!

Alison Bur

Gallery Assistant

University Art Gallery

Saginaw Valley State University