Unique Woven Sculpture Wins in Seventh Design Competition;
First Wally Award Directly Selected By Creative Peers Attending HOW Design Conference
(Chesapeake, VA) -- Yupo Corporation America, a leading global manufacturer of synthetic paper and presenter of the Wally Awards, has announced the winner of the annual design competition. “Contemporary Baskets” by Dorothy McGuinness of Everett, Washington, was selected as the overall Wally Award winner. McGuinness will receive the $1,000 grand prize and, of course, the much-coveted Wally statuette.
For the first time, attendees of the HOW Design Conference were given the opportunity to select the Wally Award recipient from a field of 21 projects displayed at the Yupo booth in Denver this past June 6-9. Previously, the Wally’s were chosen by a select group of industry experts brought together for the judging at Yupo’s manufacturing facility in Virginia.
McGuinness’ first-time use of YUPO paper as a weaving material impressed many of the nearly 700 HOW attendees who voted in the Wally Awards. McGuinness used 74lb Cover and 104lb Translucent YUPO grades and developed her own painting technique to create artistic basket designs that resembled woven metal. Admirers at HOW consistently remarked that the basket’s alternating rows of light and dark grey metallic hues gave the impression of woven stainless steel ribbon or aluminum strips.
In her submission, McGuinness described learning about Yupo and experimenting with some of the various types and weights.
“The 74lb cover is a great weight for weaving as well as the 104lb translucent, though it takes a little more finesse to use,” she said. “The paper feels a bit like bamboo in the weaving and the integral body of the material allows for designing stand-up rimmed borders.”
McGuinness developed her painting technique using various types of acrylic paint and varnish and then cut sheets of YUPO Original into strips using a pasta maker. The strips were then woven into various basket constructions, from tall, cylindrical vase-like shapes to low, broad bowls to delicate fluted artistic forms.
When notified of the results, McGuinness said that she was honored to have won the Wally Award and also appreciated ”… such an overwhelmingly positive response to my work from the HOW attendees.” McGuinness said. “I am glad that my weaving of Yupo into three dimensional work was something new and hadn't been seen before.”
“Yupo has provided me with a great new medium to work with and I've just started exploring the new possibilities it offers,” she said.
Next for the Wally Awards, the peer review category runner-up award – now called The Viewer’s Choice award. Previously known as the Designer's Choice award, five projects are eligible for the 2010 Viewer’s Choice based on their high vote totals from the Wally Award voting at HOW.
Anyone may vote for the Viewer’s Choice award by visiting www.wallyawards.com, and choosing from among the five project candidates. Voting will be conducted now through July 14; the Viewer’s Choice winner will be announced July 15, 2010.
The Wally Awards program is open to all projects created on YUPO Synthetic Papers. The Viewer’s Choice winner will receive $500.
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