The mARTian Project Sculpture Design Contest

In anticipation of the 85th anniversary of Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast in which Martian tripods were said to have landed in West Windsor, West Windsor Arts, in collaboration with the Historical Society of West Windsor, is hosting a sculpture design contest! The winning design will be used to create blank, fiberglass sculptures, which will be given to local artists to decorate, and the designer will win a cash prize of $500.  This creative Martian invasion will be on display at various West Windsor locations during October 2023.  

Submissions are now closed. Voting will be held from Sept 29 – Oct 28. Vote Here

Join us at the mARTian Project Kickoff Halloween Party on October 30th at the Schenck Farmstead to raise funds for the project and to reveal the winner! Learn more HERE

Sculpture Design Contest Information

• All sculpture design submissions are due by September 9, 2022.
• People of all ages and skill levels are eligible to participate.
• All submissions will be reviewed for eligibility by the Martian Project committee and MUST comply with its stated design requirements and the West Windsor Arts Council’s mission statement “to transform the world around us through the arts”. The committee reserves the right to reject any submission if it doesn’t comply with the requirements below.
• The selected design will be chosen by a community-wide vote to be shared on WestWindsorArts.org and via social media and email.
• All designs must be the original work of the artist.
• Designs may be depicted on any two-dimensional surface, using any art medium.
• Designs must be in a single color.
• Successful designs should consider the feasibility of making them in 3D and sized roughly 3 – 4 feet tall. Overly detailed or unstable designs will be rejected. Avoid any sharp, pointing elements that stick out more than a few inches from the body.
  
• The artist who is selected for the winning design may be asked to collaborate on a final translation of the design for a 3-dimensional form.
• Successful designs will present a friendly interpretation of our alien visitors.
• Up to 3 entries per designer.
• All sculpture designs must include elements that are evocative of these War of the Worlds historic descriptions:
  • From the original story by H.G. Wells’ description from Wikipedia:
    The Martians are described as octopus-like creatures: the “body” consisting of a disembodied head nearly 4 ft (1.22 m) across, having two eyes; a V-shaped, beak-like mouth; and two branches each of eight ‘almost whip-like’ tentacles, grouped around the mouth, referred to as the ‘hands’. They reproduce asexually, by “budding” off from a parent. Internally, the Martians consist of a brain, lungs, heart, and blood vessels; they have no organs for digestion, and therefore sustain themselves on Earth by mechanically transfusing blood via pipettes from other animals, notably humans. The ear, a single tympanic membrane located on the back of the head, is believed “useless” in Earth’s denser atmosphere. The Martians’ arrival on Earth is aboard large, cylindrical spacecraft launched from some kind of immense cannon on Mars. 
    Based on their physical features, the Martians might be the descendants of a species similar to human beings, that evolution has reduced to only a large brain and head and two groupings of eight tentacles (hands). They are described as sluggish under terrestrial gravity, heavier than on Mars. It is reported that several Martians attempt to “stand” on their tentacles, implying that they are capable of locomotion in this manner while in Mars’ lighter gravity, but not on Earth.
  • Orson Welles script descriptions (https://www.wellesnet.com/the-war-of-the-worlds-radio-script/):
    Just a minute! Something’s happening! Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific! This end of the thing is beginning to flake off! The top is beginning to rotate like a screw! The thing must be hollow!
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed . . . Wait a minute! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be . . .
    Good heavens, something’s wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it’s another one, and another. They look like tentacles to me. There, I can see the thing’s body. It’s large, large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face, it . . . Ladies and gentlemen, it’s indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move. It seems weighed down by . . . possibly gravity or something. Now wait a minute! I see something on top of the cylinder. No, it’s nothing but a shadow. Now the troops are on the edge of the Wilmuth farm. Seven thousand armed men closing in on an old metal tube. Wait, that wasn’t a shadow! It’s something moving . . . solid metal . . . kind of shieldlike affair rising up out of the cylinder . . . It’s going higher and higher. Why, it’s standing on legs . . . actually rearing up on a sort of metal framework. Now it’s reaching above the trees and the searchlights are on it. Hold on!
• West Windsor Arts will retain all legal rights to the designs submitted.
• The selected sculpture designer will receive:
  • A $500 award
  • Recognition as the designer of West Windsor’s mascot alien
  • 1-year Household membership to West Windsor Arts ($75 value)
• A separate design contest will be released in the spring of 2023 for the surface designs.

THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION HAS PASSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED THE CONTEST!

Please check back soon for voting instructions!