Above: Kristine and Colin Poole have sculpted, cast in bronze, and hand-finished
the Spectrum 23 Gold, Silver, and Grand Master Awards.
by Arnie Fenner
John Fleskes has announced the Spectrum 23 award finalists in eight categories as determined by a jury consisting of David Palumbo, Cynthia Sheppard, Kirk Thatcher, Charlie Wen, and Terryl Whitlatch (you can learn much more about each judge by hitting this link). While Spectrum Fantastic Art Live—which has included the awards ceremony for the past 4 years in Kansas City—is being revisioned for San Francisco in 2017, John and his Advisory Board wanted to continue the tradition of a Spring gathering to celebrate the accomplishments of our community. The historic Society of Illustrators in New York seemed like the perfect place to hold the ceremony and, thanks to Anelle Miller and her gracious staff at the SoI, the arrangements have been made for a gala evening May 7. The Grand Master Award will also be presented during the festivities. Because of limited seating it will be RSVP and I'll share details on how to attend (and who this year's award presenters will be) in the very near future.
Above: Norman Rockwell's painting, "The Dover Coach," greets visitors
to the bar at the Society of Illustrators.
Having art make it through an arduous jury process and being selected for inclusion in Spectrum (or any number of other worthwhile annuals) is an accomplishment in itself; being considered for a Gold or Silver Award should always be considered a happy, if unexpected, surprise. I've said in the past that awards are not won, they're earned. On their own they don't make careers—that's up to each artist to achieve for themselves—but they can certainly help them. As can being nominated or to be accepted into an annual; the old comment of "it's an honor to be..." is often repeated simply because it's true. Dan dos Santos and Justin Gerard provided some perspective on competitions and awards awhile back that are valuable reads.
Receiving an award doesn't guarantee piles of cash or legions of clients or patrons; it doesn't make the day-to-day work any easier. Awards—and the ceremonies often wrapped around them—are symbols, not exactly of some kind of carved-in-stone success, but simply of respect both from and, ideally, for our community. Regardless of the outcome, the results are a positive for everyone: joining together to celebrate skill and imagination encourages each of us while the more attention we can attract for our field, for the creators and their work, the greater the opportunities for all.
But now, without further ado, this year's nominees for the Gold and Silver Spectrum Awards. Congratulations—and good luck!—to one and all!
ADVERTISING CATEGORY
Nico Delort
The Blessing of Athena
Bartosz Kosowski
Discworld
Colin Poole
Vishnu’s Third Avatar
Andrew Thompson
Glitch
Joseph Qiu
24 Hour Movie Marathon
BOOK CATEGORY
Chris Ayers
Munchasaurus Rex
Rovina Cai
Tom, Thom
Donato Giancola
Vesuvius
Karla Ortiz
Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
Annie Stegg Gerard
Renard and the Strawberries
COMIC CATEGORY
Daren Bader
Tribes of Kai, page 41
Gael Bertrand
Island #4 cover
Tyler Crook
Harrow County #1 cover
Nic Klein
Drifter
Paolo Rivera
Hellboy 1953
CONCEPT ART CATEGORY
Mirko Failoni
The Mushroom Forest
Te Hu
Journey to West
The Artwork by Vance Kovacs will be posted on April 15th, after the release of the new Jungle Book film.
Vance Kovacs
King Louie’s Court
Seth Rutledge
Window View
Dejian Wu
Dragon Island
DIMENSIONAL CATEGORY
Akihito
Death Wings
Thomas Kuebler
Adelpha and Her Sister
Patrick Masson
The Blind Death
Forest Rogers
The Morrigan
Dug Stanat
Meeting Master Jones
EDITORIAL CATEGORY
Donato Giancola
Empathy
Tran Nguyen
Traveling To a Distant Day
Greg Ruth
Finnegan’s Field
Chris Seaman
Family Portraithausen: A Tribute to Ray Harryhausen
Sam Weber
The Language of Knives
INSTITUTIONAL CATEGORY
Julie Bell
Behind the Veil
Wesley Burt
Natural Connection
Bill Carman
Medieval Batman
Te Hu
Offering
Tyler Jacobson
Exalted Angel
UNPUBLISHED CATEGORY
Dragan Bibin
Pull
Jaemin Kim
King Under the Mountain
Greg Opalinski
Initiate
Rob Rey
Bioluminescence
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