The Canvas The Town And Brush The Backdrop! contest is now closed.
Frank Holmes has reviewed all the entries and submited the following judgement. The winner of the handwritten lyrics has already been notified by Mr. Van Dyke Parks personally and should have received his set of lyrics by now.
Even though the contest is over now the idea of an online gallery of works inspired by Van Dyke Parks' lyrics lives on.. I will create such a gallery at a later point on this website, of course the entries to this contest will be part of it. If there is anything you want to contribute, be it in writing or a painting or a drawing or even a sound file of a song or a spoken word performance - please get in touch with me at webmaster@vandykeparks.com.
Frank Holmes writes about the winning contest entry and the two runners-up:
Here are my impressions and judgment results for "Canvas The Town and Brush The Backdrop" contest.
In choosing the winner of the contest, I found it difficult to separate the entries, and judge them independently for their quality and execution. This was due to the fact that each entry represented different lyrics. I found each interpretation to be an interesting effort at dealing with Van Dyke's often complex lyrics. I give the contestants much credit for their selections and meeting this challenge.
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I have chosen Noel Kettering's entry Cabinessence as first place. The image of the warm glowing interior of the cabin in the forest is very inviting and thought provoking. The three empty chairs pulls your attention into this moody environment, and arouses your curiosity. Who might occupy these chairs, and inhabit this world of the cabin? A cabin that shows signs of life in the form of inner light, and smoke from the chimney, but with no figure representation. This creates an interesting enigma and is in keeping with the lyrics. This was a very good use of color and composition.
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Second choice is the entry by Margaret Kemp. When the Moon Turns Lime Green and the Sky is Lavender Brue. These are beautiful watercolors reflecting the Asian tradition in style. They are very effective in presenting the moon and its relationship to the female in the right corner. I would have liked to have seen more balance in the use of color in the form of more lavender and less green. Use of these lyrics and the open-ended word play is very stimulating to the imagination. I can understand her interest in using this couplet as her inspiration for the two great works submitted.
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Third choice is Bob Kroeger's Man Dressed in Proper Attire.
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From Orange Crate Art Photo image with croquette field, and a person standing dressed in "Proper Attire," with "Airborne Oranges," This is a surreal idea and an approach that always gets my attention in challenging my rational/irational thought. This is a good solution to a complex idea.
I found it a bit static in composition with the oranges all about equal size, but a pleadings and colorful representation non the less.
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Thank you for inviting me to be a judge for this contest. If there is anything else I can do let me know.
Sincerely,
Frank Holmes
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The images shown above were the results of a contest staged on this website in spring/summer 2002. The original contest page read like this:
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For this competition we ask you for the pictures that are on your mind - not for any pictures, but for pictures the lyrics of Van Dyke Parks evoke on your mind. You can paint or draw or assemble collages or take photographs, you can even compose computer prints, any visual contribution inspired by the words of Van Dyke Parks is eligible. This includes any lyrics written by Mr. Parks, no matter if they were recorded by him or by another artist.
Van Dyke Parks generously submitted a set of handwritten lyrics to the song Surf's Up - the song that includes the line canvas the town and brush the backdrop - as a unique and very special price for the winner of this competition.
I'm very happy to announce that the juror for this contest will be the first artist who ever visually interpreted lyrics written by Van Dyke Parks - no one else but Mr. Frank Holmes, the artist who put the images to Van Dyke Parks' words for the never finished album Smile by the Beach Boys. Holmes also designed the famous "Smile Shop" cover artwork for the album. A few of Frank Holmes' images, which were meant to appear in the booklet accompanying the Smile album, are featured on this page.
You should send any submissions as a scan to the editor of vandykeparks.com at webmaster@vandykeparks.com. Please e-mail to that address as well, if you don't own a scanner and want to send in a submission by 'snail mail'. I'll scan these 'snail mail' submissions and forward the scans to Frank Holmes. With submitting an image the participant agrees that the image may be published in an online exhibition on vandykeparks.com after the contest closed.
The contest closes on 30th July 2002. The best submission will be selected in the sole judgement of Frank Holmes.
And if you are lost for words you can always check out the lyrics archive.
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