Friday, April 18, 4pm - 2am
Saturday, April 19, 12pm - 2am
Sunday, April 20, 12 - 5pm (highlighting communities outside C-U)

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40 North Announces First 3D Signature Image for Boneyard Arts Festival

After evaluating nearly 50 outstanding submissions, a panel of local arts professionals has selected, for the first time, a three-dimensional piece to be the featured image for the Boneyard Arts Festival. Images of the winning piece – a whimsical sculpture by artist Derek Winstanley entitled “Prehistoric Dolphin with Modern Technology” – will serve as the unifying visual theme for the 2008 festival. 40 North | 88 West congratulates Mr. Winstanley and thanks all the artists who responded to the call and submitted work for consideration.

The judging panel consisted of artists Kim Curtis, Joan Stolz and Durango Mendoza. Artist Jenny Southlynn moderated.

"Prehistoric Dolphin with Modern Technology" by Derek Winstanley

The Boneyard Arts Festival, a unique countywide event produced by 40 North | 88 West, will take place April 18 through 20 and runs Friday from 4pm-2am, Saturday from noon-2am, and Sunday from 12-5pm (highlighting communities outside Champaign-Urbana). Musicians, dancers, actors and poets will join sculptors, weavers, photographers, painters and other visual artists in sharing their creativity as Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding communities come alive. More than a traditional arts walk, the three day festival showcases both the area's wealth of talent and the vitality of partnerships between its arts and entertainment community and local businesses.

Derek Winstanley and
“Prehistoric Dolphin with Modern Technology”
In 1997, the artist behind the 2008 Boneyard Arts Festival signature image was appointed Chief of the Illinois State Water Survey, which was founded in Champaign in 1895. With a staff of around 220 and a budget of roughly $16 million, the Water Survey conducts scientific investigations and provides services in climate, surface waters, groundwater and atmospheric deposition monitoring. Winstanley lists his main professional interests as climate change and water supply planning.

Artist Statement
“There is the common thread between being an artist and a scientist. A research scientist creates new knowledge, understanding and order from rough material. A sculptor creates a new form from rough wood. The intensity of concentration and expression in sculpting is similar to that in conducting scientific research. The real challenge in sculpting is that it is subtractive and mistakes usually are fatal.”

“‘Prehistoric Dolphin with Modern Technology’ is the most recent piece in my ‘whimsical’ style. When I first came to Champaign 10 years ago I was fascinated with lots of pieces of old farm equipment at flea markets. I bought some 30 pieces not knowing exactly what I would ever do with them and for 10 years I did nothing. In 2006 Champaign Park Department cut down some trees in Robeson Park behind our house and I rescued one of the branches. After air drying it in the garage for 12 months and looking at the pieces of farm equipment I saw the possibility of creating a dolphin - with a twist. I debarked the limb and cut out a section that had the natural curve of a dolphin as it moves through water. There was not much wood to remove to create the head and tail of the dolphin; I then sanded it. Two pieces of the farm equipment were ideal for forming the dolphin’s bottle nose and one for its flippers. As I had previously sculpted a series on evolution I decided to add an evolutionary touch of humor by placing barbs and spines along its back – the prehistoric component – and adding other pieces of metal equipment to create a future dimension – modern technology. These pieces represent a propeller and rudder, radar equipment, and GPS and navigational systems. Acorn cups and seed pods provide additional sensing equipment. To finish, I used buckeyes for the eyes. I placed the dolphin in our yard as an outdoor sculpture, rotating on a central axis on a tree stump remaining from a diseased pine tree that I cut down.”

-Derek Winstanley

Judging Panel
Durango Mendoza is a photographer, sculptor, graphic design, writer, an arts-for-children workshop leader and a 14-year resident of Urbana. He is a retired Social Services Administrator and is currently the Special Assistant to the Director of the U of I Native American House/American Indian Studies Program. He has exhibited locally and in his native Oklahoma. Mr. Mendoza is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. He is married and the father of four.

Joan Stolz is assistant professor of art at Parkland College in Champaign. She received an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Hoffberger School of Painting and a BA from the University of Maryland, College Park (studio art major, art history minor). She has exhibited work at Springer Cultural Center, Urbana, Krannert Art Museum, the USDA in Washington, DC, at the annual Parkland College Faculty Exhibit, in numerous traveling exhibits, in Galerie Graphes, Paris, France, the Bill Bace Gallery, New York City, Gallery K, Washington, DC, the Baltimore Museum, the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and in many other locations. Her work has been reviewed in the Baltimore Sun, Art News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and elsewhere.

Kim Curtis comes to painting from a rich background in theatrical costume design. For thirteen years, Ms. Curtis designed and constructed costumes for theaters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including a six-year stint as Master Craftsperson for the San Francisco Opera Costume Shop. At the Opera, Curtis constructed the armor, jewelry, headdresses and masks for some of the world’s most renowned singers and designers. She then returned to the California College of Arts and Crafts where she further developed the style she had honed through years of costume sketching. Ms. Curtis holds a degree from UC Berkeley in History of Art as well as in Painting from CCAC. She paints full-time in her studio in Urbana, IL. Ms. Curtis is represented in Chicago, IL by Kasia Kay Art Projects Gallery and in Tampa, FL by Atelier Bleu Acier.

Moderator Jenny Southlynn has been a resident of Champaign-Urbana since the early 70’s. A graduate of the University of Illinois she holds a BFA in Art Education and an MFA in Painting. Ms. Southlynn taught painting professionally at Illinois State University, in Normal, Illinois and at the University of Illinois, School of Art and Design, in Champaign-Urbana. Southlynn started working at a local alternative newspaper in 1995, and has been committed to journalism ever since. She has worked as staff writer, editor and arts and entertainment editor with local weeklies over the past 10 years. Southlynn was a partner in Partners in Ink, LLC and a founder of The Paper where she served as Arts and Entertainment Editor until its close in 2004. She is currently Publisher and Arts Editor of Pamphlet, an online publication at www.pamphletpress.org. Ms. Southlynn was a founding member of 40 North | 88 West, a founding mother of The New Muse Gallery (a women's collective that operated locally hosting monthly exhibitions), Euterpe Music Network, and The Boneyard Arts Festival.