UTOPIA! FINALISTS!
How the finalists were selected.
There is only a limited amount of space in the gallery, and my
aim was for 100 works to be selected through the online voting
process, before the nomination round. As this number is approximately
10 percent of the vote, I was looking to include about 10 percent
of each category. I knew that the rest of the exhibition walls
could be filled with deserving nominated entries.
The “This-or-that” online voting system ranked works
according to percentage, but rounded up or down to the nearest
percent. This explains the seeming “out of order”
anomalies that some participants noticed. For example, a work
that has won 53.4% winning votes is seen the placing the same
as the 52.5% winning votes, as both round to 53% but may be listed
out of order.
The program lists these results within a single percentage according
to how recently the image was voted on and therefore is essentially
random. This timing effect explains why some images seemingly
fluctuated wildly in ranking, especially in the open staged and
open non-objective categories, whose results were sometimes separated
by only tenths of a percent over several pages.
As the arbiter of this exhibition, I chose to recognize each percentage
group as a tie and to cut off the accepted works at the percentage
break closest to 10%. For example, if there were 300 entries,
I had a target of thirty entries. If there was a break between
3 images at 55% and the 8 images at 54% which fell between the
27th and 28th image, I would place the cut off there. The remaining
three (plus some extras according to space) would be works selected
by nomination.
I chose this methodology for a couple reasons
1) It minimizes a personalized interpretation
of the results and helpes people to think of the images in collective
tiers of work instead of taking the cutoff immediately before
or after them as evidence of a biased agenda.
2) it allowed more room for nominations to counter
balance the online voting process. The nomination idea was uniformly
received quite well (unlike it’s never-to-be-mentioned-again
evil twin), and I thought it be nice to show more work as a way
to visualize other possibilities while upholding what unfolded
in the online voting.
I feel that this interpretation of the results is by far the fairest,
and I stand firmly by them. If you feel a work was not included
due to a mathematical error, I will reconsider if it can be proven
with current information, but the interpretive logic is not negotiable.
CONTACT THE SRI HERE [
]
The greatest anomaly with this system is in the staged open category,
which drew an amazingly inconclusive 60-way tie for 2nd place.
I find it so remarkable, I am embracing this rupture as an opportunity
for the entrants to select almost an entire category by nomination.
Please see the results of staged, open for
more information or the nomination guidelines here.
Finalists are listed in alphabetical order by category
Landmarks, open
http://utopialo.ning.com
LAX - Mathew Bantug
Gateway to Heaven - David Casian
Natures Fury - david casian
Split Sunset - Cyrus Fisher
Cathedral Rock Falls - Richard Fitzer
Mittens - Geoff Graham
Alpine Sunrise - Yosemite NP - Michael E. Gordon
Welcome Home - Sara Heinrichs
Yellow Hill - Sara Heinrichs
Tenement - Lopi LaRoe
Home in the Sierra Nevada - James Lott
Katrina verus the Shrimp boat - James Lott
Sunset on the Gulf - James Lott
The Garage, 2003 - Kevin McCarty
mercado - s sanchez
Unplanted Hill - Sharon Y. Shimada
fogged - Cindi Trainor
Expired - Farrin Rosenthal
God's Backyard - Michael Vlietstra
Landmarks, student
http://utopials.ning.com
Open Road - Douglas Couch
Side Window - James Feliciano
Serendipity - Jocelyn Foster-Weaver
Dead Branch at Home in Death Valley - Kevin Rogers
Lone Tuscan Tree - Kevin Rogers
Non-objective, open division
http://utopiano.ning.com
COLORS - Mathew Bantug
Red on Green - Thomas Hill
U B I - Chris Mathis
Toxic - Lynda Lester-Slack
Wavy lines - Richard Nieto
Colony - Farrin Rosenthal
Guardian - Farrin Rosenthal
Choices - Daniel Rockholt
Otherwise - Lopi LaRoe
rails - sergio sanchez
Rope & Hands - Morgan Shortell
Dry - Lopi LaRoe
entering into - maria tarasoff
stacks - Cindi Trainor
Snazzy - Florene Welebney
Non-objective, student division
http://utopians.ning.com
mystical stairs - Tim Bailey
Tomato Juice - Adam Cruces
Mystery - Jocelyn Foster-Weaver
Vortex Whirl - Jocelyn Foster-Weaver
Pearl - scott francis
Representational, Open division
http;//utopiaro.ning.com
Once Upon A Time Part I - Samantha Casolari
Last Flight - andrew cross
Parking garage - andrew cross
Game Room, Atlantic Ocean - Martin Cox
Pumpkins - Patrick Fulco
Dulce Despojo - John Paul Gallagher
Rain Boy - John Paul Gallagher
Yuccas, Indian Summer Sky - Michael E. Gordon
Five Sailboats - Thomas Hill
Stream of Gold - Thomas Hill
Plenty of Stuff - Thomas Hill
Ram's Head - Kathleen Hill
Two boats and a kayak - Kathleen Hill
Criss-Cross - Mike Irwin
Waiting - Mike Irwin
R & B - Lopi LaRoe
Santa Monica Pier - Doug Landreth
Black Jacket Black Hands - Chris Mathis
Water Lilly at the Huntington - Debby Prohias
Isabelle and her sister - An Tran
Ticket Booth at Carnival - Jeff Seltzer
Office Hallway - Jeff Seltzer
Dall Sheep - Joel Westendorf
Representational, Student division
http://utopiars.ning.com
how many roads - Tim Bailey
Frank Sinatra Redux - James Feliciano
Togetherness - Jocelyn Foster-Weaver
Still - Anna Marie Francesco
Los Angeles Nightscape - Jonas Lara
Staged, Open division
http://utopiaso.ning.com
One finalist:
Life in Balance - Farrin Rosenthal
This category is mind bogglingly close. After the first image
at 52% percent, the next 60 in the category all either round up
or down to 51% winning votes, therefore making it a 60-way tie
for 2nd place. The actual ranking as seen on the “winners”
pages is correlated to how recently the image was voted on and
is essentially random as long as the entry is between 50.5% ad
51.49%. I have the space for approximately 20 works in this category.
This leaves 19 positions up for grabs.
Therefore the 60-way 51% tie will be broken through the nomination
process. The most nominated of the 51% category will take the
regular 2nd through 20th slots and labeled as a regularly selected
image that tied for second and was finalized though nomination.
To accommodate for the large numbers of images to confirm, a single
individual can nominate up to 5 images in the non-objective category,
open division.
Staged, Student Division
http://utopiass.ning.com
Cafe at Twilight - James Feliciano
Somewhere Tropical (In My Backyard) - Gina Osterloh
Cismar Installation II - Szacsva y Pal
A Future Past - Louisa Van Leer
Ascension - Gareth Walsh
ALL FINALISTS WILL BE CONTACTED
BY THE MILLARD SHEETS GALLERY. IF YOU HAVE NOT HEARD FROM THE
MILLIARD SHEETS GALLERY BY JULY 21, YOU SHOULD CONTACT THEM AT
UTOPIA_MSG@SBCGLOBAL.NET
link here fore a printer friendly version [ here
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