The Winners
We received 37 amazing pieces of art work to our #SotonAstroArt competition which took place between May – Sept 2020.
We had 9 prize winners and photos of the winning artists, their artwork and explanations of their art (where given) are shown below:
Category 1 – 1st Prize – Lexi, UK
Category 1 – 2nd Prize – Sunny, USA
Category 1- 3rd Prize – Amy, UK
Pupils who took part learned about the life cycle of stars and supernova stars for the first time. They were enthralled by images of supernova stars and chose to create artwork inspired by them. They were fascinated by the subject and spoke positively about learning more about stars and space in the future.
– Comments from Amy’s Teacher (this work by Amy was done in her primary school in Merseyside as part of a lesson organised by the Teacher)
Category 2 – 1st Prize – Abi, UK
I love creating art around space. Art is about being able to convey the world around you, and something like supernovas lend themselves perfectly to it because of their vastness. How would you make something so great and complex digestible to the human mind? Well art solves that, by creating both emotional connection and conveying an idea of energy. No artist could ever perfectly record the world around them and how it made them feel, so by choosing a certain composition and medium to work in they place limits on themselves and must fill this box with enough information to truly show the wonders of the universe.
I’ve always been fascinated with images taken but the Hubble that create such a great longing in me to find out what more could be out there.
I learnt that the star forming this supernova was 45x more massive then our sun, and the stellar wind that gives it its bubble shape is in fact moving over 4 million miles per hour. I’ve learnt more about the different light radiation gases emitted when they reach certain temperatures and that if why we see these beautiful colours, for example the blue light is the oxygen and the yellow is cooler nitrogen and hydrogen. The pillars are in fact manly lit by strong ultraviolet radiation from stars within the nebula.
Category 2 – 2nd Prize – Krutika , India
My elder brother studies physics in college and he got to know about this competition and told me about it. I also learned about supernovas and stellar evolution from him.But it soon became boring because there were a lot of equations 😂😂(Also he told me that the entire star goes boom in less than 1s). But I loved how beautiful these celestial bodies look, especially nebulas and supernovas. Since I loved pastels so I went for this.Would absolutely love to participate next time!! 🙂
Category 2 – 3rd Prize – Eliza, UK
When doing this piece of Artwork I learnt that Supernovas are extremely powerful and can produce very pretty colours! Also that a Supernova involves Nuclear Fusion (which is where two or more Nuclei’s combine together to make one large one).
Category 3 – 1st Prize – Carys, UK
What influenced my artwork were photos of Cassiopeia A and SN 2018gv, and the work of the NASA Art Program, and reading and seeing the results of the DES.
Category 3 – 2nd Prize – Gordon, UK
I’ve always loved to look at the ever improving views of the distant galaxies and space phenomena that are so beautiful yet so distant. I’ve always loved science and the images that come from research and thin lines so I finally built an iPad app to put all these things together in what could be called my life’s ambition to make art and technology work together, and it won a prize!
Category 3 – 3rd Prize – Madelina, UK
I was interested to learn that a star collapses over a time period of milliseconds when it runs out of fuel for nuclear fusion. This momentary explosion is depicted in my splatter painting ‘Supernova’ as the artwork is created instantaneously, capturing the energy of the motion as the paint hits the paper. After the initial explosion the remnants of a supernova trace shockwaves in a variety of colours across the sky, which is represented in the different hues of the splatters, using metallic paint which has a shimmering effect.
Insta: @Madeleina_Kay Facebook: @MadeleinaKay Twitter: @MadeleinaKay
https://madeleinakay0.wixsite.com/madeleinakayartwork
Well done to all the prize winners!
All 37 Artworks will be uploaded onto an exhibit page on this website shortly.
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<OLD TEXT from May 2020>
Everyone is invited to make a piece of Astronomy inspired art this summer!
Learn about exciting astronomy research on Supernova Stars and Dark Energy.
Create your art while you learn Astrophysics!
The competition is open to Everyone; there are 3 age categories and you can submit as many entries as you like.
Your art work can take on any form but should be inspired by our University of Southampton research into the ‘Life Cycle of Stars’, Supernova and Dark Energy.
Submit your work online using the hashtag #SotonAstroArt or email it to us. Don’t forget to include your age and location.
*DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES EXTENDED TO 5PM ON SUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2020*
Note: The deadline was originally 25th July but we have now extended it to cover the Summer holidays 😀
Three categories for young entrants:
Category 1- children aged from 0 to 11 years old inclusive.
Category 2 – young people from 12 – 18 years old inclusive.
This is an international competition so all young people from across the World may enter.
*NEW* Adult Category:
Category 3 – Adults: 19 years + old
As this is an International Competition adults and young people from across the world can enter!
Prizes
There will be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize within each age category.
The 1st prize for all the age categories will be: Glow in the dark planets, Professional Art set and a Hobermans sphere.
2nd and 3rd prizes will be just get Glow in the dark planets.
All winners will have the opportunity to have their actual art work exhibited in the next #SotonAstroArt exhibit date TBC.
Judging will be done by Dr Sadie Jones and Dr Pearl John.
Art entries
Art work can take on any form but should be inspired by the entrants own research of the ‘Physics of Stars’, Supernova and Dark Energy.
Suggested research links below:
- ‘Life cycle of stars’ (see BBC Bitesize : https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpxv97h/revision/1 ),
- Supernova stars ( http://supernova.soton.ac.uk/ & http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Astro/snovcn.html )
- Dark Energy Survey (DES) https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/ which includes the research of the University of Southampton.
- Entrants should also look at the other pages on this website https://sotonastroart.wordpress.com
For more information on the research and how to go about making your art work there will be a series of videos uploaded onto the @SotonAstrodome YouTube Channel presented by Dr Sadie Jones filmed from her parents home in Wales during lockdown. In these videos she explains some of the Supernova group research and make her own piece of astro art live! Check out her videos and those of other supernova researchers here.
For previous examples of artwork created at our #SotonAstroArt workshops have a look at our ‘Public Gallery’ page here: https://sotonastroart.wordpress.com/public-gallery/
Submission
People can submit a photo of their art work to Dr Sadie Jones and Dr Pearl John at physwizz@soton.ac.uk by email or a post on social media (Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #SotonAstroArt to ensure we see it).
Make sure you put your age e.g. ‘13 years old’ or at least which age category you are entering e.g. ‘2’ and where you are in the world, ideally including both the town and country, e.g. ‘Southampton, UK’ when you email it and/or post it online.
NO Names needed in your submission! Just tell us your age and location.
We will contact the prize winners following our judging via the email they used or social media account they posted from by end of September 2020 to tell them they have won a prize.
Remember there is no limit to the number of times you can enter. Good Luck!
#StressLessSupernova Colouring-In sheet
I have created a downloadable colouring-in sheet in an effort to get you started with your Supernova inspired art. You can download it for free below:
You Got This 😀
#SotonAstroArt 