SEATTLE ARTIST PIPER O'NEILL COMISSIONED TO CREATE THE SIFF 2013 GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AUDIENCE AWARD

The 2013 Golden Space Needle Award, created by artist Piper O'Neill

SEATTLE (JUNE 4, 2013) - The 39th Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most-highly attended festival in the United States, announced today that Seattle artist Piper O'Neill has been commissioned to design and create the 2013 Golden Space Needle Awards. A Seattle-based artist, O'Neill boasts an impressive and diverse body of work ranging from sculpture and delicate tissue collages to video installations and short film. 

For the past 28 years, SIFF has celebrated its most popular films and filmmakers with the Golden Space Needle Audience Award. Created to recognize the audience's favorite films, awards are given to the Festival's Best Feature Film, Documentary, Actor, Actress, and Short Film. Following every SIFF screening, audience members submit their votes in applicable categories.

SIFF Managing Director Mary Bacarella said, "SIFF is absolutely thrilled about this year's Golden Space Needle Awards collaboration with Piper O'Neill. Piper is a fabulous artist with a local connection to the Seattle community; we couldn't be more proud to have an artist of her caliber creating this award."

Piper O'Neill studied at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration and Experimental Animation in 2001. In 2006, O'Neill moved to Seattle, where she received a Masters of Communication in Digital Media from the University of Washington. Her work explores the concept of inherited histories and nostalgia, and she uses a variety of media, including delicate collaged tissue, large-scale steel sculpture and animated short films.

O'Neill's sculptures have been included in CoCA's Heaven and Earth outdoor sculpture exhibition and she received the 2012 judge's award for her tissue work in the juried10x10xTieton exhibition in Tieton, Washington. She has been featured in arts periodicals such as Art Ltd magazine, Studio Visit magazine and Vanguard Seattle. Her work is in many notable private and public collections, and she is a recent recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant through her recent appointment as Artist in Residence at Pratt Fine Art Center. Represented by Winston Wachter Fine Art, she will mount her second solo exhibition there in January 2014.

O'Neill's inspiration for this year's Golden Space Needle Award came from the DeJur Electra 8mm camera lens, an iconographic silhouette that is symbolic of Seattle's love of film. For more information about the artist, visit www.winstonwachter.com.

The 2013 Golden Space Needle Awards will be announced on the morning of June 9 on location at the Seattle Space Needle. For a complete list of last year's award winners, please see below:

SIFF 2012 GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AUDIENCE AWARDS

Best Film Golden Space Needle Award
ANY DAY NOW, directed by Travis Fine (USA, 2012)

Best Documentary Golden Space Needle Award
THE INVISIBLE WAR, directed by Kirby Dick (USA, 2012)

Best Director Golden Space Needle Award
Benh Zeitlin, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (USA, 2012)

Best Actor Golden Space Needle Award
Alan Cumming, ANY DAY NOW (USA, 2012)

Best Actress Golden Space Needle Award
Jamie Chung, EDEN (USA, 2012)

Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award
CATCAM, directed by Seth Keal (USA, 2012)


ABOUT THE SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Founded in 1976, SIFF creates experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary films from around the world with the Seattle International Film Festival, SIFF Cinema, and SIFF Education. Recognized as one of the top film festivals in North America, the Seattle International Film Festival (May 16 - June 9, 2013) is the largest, most highly attended film festival in the United States, reaching more than 150,000 annually. The 25-day festival is renowned for its wide-ranging and eclectic programming, presenting over 250 features and 150 short films from over 70 countries each year. SIFF Cinema exhibits premiere theatrical engagements, repertory, classic, and revival film showings 365 days a year on four screens at the SIFF Film Center and the historic SIFF Cinema Uptown, reaching more than 100,000 attendees annually. SIFF Education offers educational programs for all audiences serving more than 11,000 students and youth in the community with free programs each year.


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