This year, the UKAEA launched its fusion art competition during lockdown to see how fusion energy inspires artists and creatives across the UK.
The Art of Fusion aims to break down the barriers between Art and Science and to inspire and encourage people of all artistic abilities to get out the pens, pencils, and paints, and try their hand at expressing what fusion energy means to them through art.
The competition aimed to bridge the supposed gap between the two disciplines and was launched during the IF Oxford Science and Ideas Festival in October. Competition organiser Ella Ashdown hosted a discussion between Oxfordshire Botanical Illustrator, Rosemary Wise, and UKAEA Nuclear Physicist, Dr Chantal Nobs. The discussion explored the many similarities between Art and Science and broke down those supposed walls between them. If you didn't catch the discussion live, check it out below.
Ella explained: “Art and Science are for everyone and each can help you to understand the other. We use art to explain difficult concepts in science and mathematics so we can all better understand life as we know it.
"Likewise, science influences the fundamental techniques of art; colour mixing, perspective, vanishing points, the list goes on.”
Chantal and Rosemary also acted as judges for the competition. After much deliberation, they came to an agreement on the winners and runners up.
In the 18+ category, the winner was Vanessa McKay from Wantage, whose ‘strong and striking’ linocut print of the inside of a tokamak unanimously impressed the judges.
Rosemary Wise commented: “This is a very clever lino cut. The way one’s eye is led into the design makes me want to know what is around the corner!”
In the 7 – 12 years category, the winner was 10-year-old Catherine Brett from Abingdon, who created a beautiful representation of a tokamak with plasma inside using a technique called ‘quilling’. This technique involved coiling paper into tight spirals.
The judges felt that the piece was skilled and imaginative, and represented the process of fusion beautifully. Chantal Nobs thought that “the use of simple and common materials to create something complex and beautiful resonates with fusion on many levels and the frame reflects the challenge of containing the fusion plasma.”
There were three runners up in each category, pictured below (from top left to bottom right): Annabelle Simms, Hamshika Kasturi and Elizabeth Hill, in the 7 – 12 years and Robert McCormick, Emma Dobson and Mate Czentye in the 18+.
The winners and runners up will be invited to a private virtual tour of JET in the new year. The winners will have their entries turned into postcards for the UKAEA outreach team to use at science festivals and event to promote fusion energy. They will also be invited to a viewing of their artwork in the Cornerstone Gallery in Didcot in the new year, once Covid-19 restrictions ease.
All the entries received were wonderful interpretations of fusion energy and the judges had a hard time choosing the finalists. You can see the rest of the entries below.
We plan to run the competition next year and cannot wait to see the creative output of our followers!