Finally, the official blog post about the Banned Books Week Challenge! If you've been listening to my most recent podcast episodes, you'll already know all about this. Yay you! If you've been listening to CraftyGardenMom podcast or following Tanesha's blog, you'll also already know all about this. Yay you!
If you've not done either this is hitting you out of the blue. But you're a quick study--you'll be up to speed in no time. Yay you!
Announcing...
The 2013 Banned Books Week Challenge
(and giveaway!)
Once again, Tanesha and I are co-hosting a Banned Books Week mini quilt challenge. Our form of non-violent protest, I guess, of the idea that anyone would want to ban books. Just so not our style.
Banned
Books Week is September 22-28, 2013. You may find information on the issue of
censorship, lists of what books have been banned or challenged, and other
resources on www.bannedbooksweek.org or the American
Library Association website at www.ala.org. You can find lists of Banned or Challenged Classics here, and the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 here, and the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books 1990-1999 here. (Those dates, by the way, are when those books were banned/challenged, not when they were published.)
You are challenged to create a small wall quilt that somehow represents a book from the banned/challenged book list that you have read and particularly loved, found meaningful, or otherwise want to celebrate. How you choose to represent the book is up to you—it could be a scene from the book, words from the book, or just represents the book in some way.
Please be aware that book cover images and illustrations in books are copyrighted art. You would need permission from the publisher/artist to depict those images exactly. You may, of course, use them as inspiration for your own artwork!
The pert-details:
2012 BBW "Alice's Spider," by me. Based on Go Ask Alice.
- Create a mini-quilt based on a book on a banned/challenged book list that you read and enjoyed. Really, the quilt can be any size, but "mini" keeps it manageable. You can do a mug rug if you want! No specific sizes required.
- Use any type of quilt techniques you enjoy, any type of surface embellishment you choose--whatever flips your switch!
- Post pictures of your completed quilt(s) in the Flickr group for this challenge. We're using the same Flickr group as last year, so please clearly label your post with "2013" in the title so we know what the new ones are!
- Include your artist's statement in the description of your photo in the Flickr group. (Or, should you be a blogger, just include a link to your blog post about the quilt in the description. ) The artist's statement should include the title and author of the book, why you chose that book, and anything else you want us to know about your mini-quilt.
During Banned Books Week, Tanesha and I will be blogging/podcasting about the entries and there will be...yes!...prizes!
Here's another idea: I'm also co-facilitating this same challenge in my quilt guild, with fellow guild member Kate who is a librarian in our local public library. We've arranged for the library to display during Banned Books Week quilts from our guild members who participate. Woo! That meant having a few more guidelines about sizes and deadlines and such, but I'm very excited about it. I'll post pics of the display when it's up and ready. Why don't you ask your local library if you can display your finished project there?
Whatever you do, Tanesha and I are looking forward to seeing it!
For inspiration, here are the pictures from last year.