West Coast Eisteddfod L.A. Lovespoon 2011 - And The Winners Are......

After due deliberation David is pleased to announce the winners of the design element competition for this years West Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon . The finished piece which will be on display at the event at the Barnsdall Art Center between September 23rd and 25th, incorporates three design elements which were selected by popular suggestion and vote both here and on the AmeriCymru website . From an initial list of about 30 suggestions the final slate was whittled down to just five contenders. Here are the three winners:-

3. Cerdd:  The harp is seen as the symbol of Welsh music (Cerdd is the word for music in Welsh). The Welsh are renowned for their musicality and music is always an important part of the Eisteddfod experience.

2. The Awen:   Awen is a Welsh word for "(poetic) inspiration". Used historically to describe the poetic inspiration of the bards, it is a beautifully apt and very stylish symbol for an Eisteddfod spoon!

1. This lovely design by Laura Gorun includes the ever popular Welsh Daffodils and leeks. These iconic symbols of Wales are always a beautiful addition to any lovespoon design!

The Harp design won outright with 24.36% of the vote whilst the Daffodils and Awen both tied for second place with 21.79%. The winners each of whom will receive a copy of David's book, "The Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons" are:-

1. Jennifer Brodeur
2. Brian Y Tarw Lwyd
3. Laura Gorun 

Many thanks to all who contributed designs and/or voted in the competition. We will present the first two named winners with their prizes at the West Coast Eisteddfod in September and Laura's copy will be mailed.

Please don't forget that the principal purpose of all this is to raise funds for this years event. So if you have a few ( or many ) dollars to spare please consider buying a few tickets for the grand prize draw which will take place at the Eisteddfod. You can enter the prize draw via the 'Donate' button in the right hand column on David Western's Lovespoon Blog or in the left hand column on AmeriCymru.net.

Bookmark this blog for further developments and to follow the creation of this unique work of art.

Voting Ends Midnight Tonight!

Tonight marks the end of our vote to pick the winning design elements for this year's West Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon - see them in my last blog post here -

Vote and let us know which three of this designs should be included in this year's spoon!

Time To Go to the Polls

As Canadians head to the polls to elect a new government, I thought this would be a perfect time for a vote on which three of the following 5 carefully selected choices will be the ones to use on the West Coast Eisteddfod 2011 Lovespoon. Vote early and vote often...just kidding about the often...but do vote which designs you'd like included on the finished spoon.

We had loads of suggestions to choose from and have gone with the following designs. We're keeping the names hidden until the voting is over so that there can be no claims of favouritism and no vote rigging etc.. Many of the ideas we received were in text form, so I have interpreted them as best I could.

1. This lovely design includes the ever popular Welsh Daffodils and leeks. These iconic symbols of Wales are always a beautiful addition to any lovespoon design!

2. The Awen:   Awen is a Welsh word for "(poetic) inspiration". Used historically to describe the poetic inspiration of the bards, it is a beautifully apt and very stylish symbol for an Eisteddfod spoon!

3. Cerdd:  The harp is seen as the symbol of Welsh music (Cerdd is the word for music in Welsh). The Welsh are renowned for their musicality and music is always an important part of the Eisteddfod experience.

4. Gair (Use the picture of the book and pen) Gair (the Welsh word for 'word') is symbolized by a book and quill. As fluid and sonorous with their language as they are with their singing, Welsh literature is a vital component of Eisteddfod competitioin.

5. Celf:   To represent Celf (the Welsh word for art) I have used an old fashioned movie camera and a Hollywood Star. Because this year's Eisteddfod is happening in Los Angeles, the movie industry seemed the perfect representative for the arts community as it relates to the Eisteddfod.

So there you go!!! Pick the 3 you like best and we'll see which ones wind up on the spoon!!

And in case you have forgotten what the spoon looks like, here it is roughed out but with the three circular areas left untouched. I'm excited to see which designs will be selected and even more excited to carve them onto the spoon! Every year the West Coast Eisteddfod gets better and better and it is my fervent hope that the spoons we carve for it get better too.

Please remember you can win this spoon!! Everyone who donates to the Eisteddfod gets a chance to win...each dollar equals one chance, so the more you donate, the better your odds!