The Illustrative Beader:
Beaded Tapestry Competition
Deadline 8/31/2011
Download Official Rules

by Land of Odds, Be Dazzled Beads, The Open Window Gallery, and The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts

CALL FOR ENTRIES
The Illustrative Beader:
Beaded Tapestry Competition
Create a Beaded Tapestry by manipulating beads, cloth and fibers into an imaginative detailed, tactile and visual representation of this year’s theme:Mystery Genre Book Covers .

And then write a short Artist Statement (between 1000-2000 words) about the general story-line of the book which the cover represents, how you made choices about what things to include on your cover, the materials and techniques you used in creating your book cover tapestry, and your strategies for adding a sense of dimensionality to the book cover tapestry.

The First Bi-Annual 2011 THE ILLUSTRATIVE BEADER: BEADED TAPESTRY COMPETITION is offering a first prize of a $1000.00 shopping spree on the Land of Odds web-site (www.landofodds.com), and a Runner-Up prize of a $400.00 shopping spree on the web-site.

Here we use the concept of “Tapestry” in its broadest sense as a stitched, sewn and/or woven wall hanging. Your tapestry may be woven, loomed, stitched, quilted, cross-stitched, crocheted, knitted, sewn, braided, knotted, embroidered, macramed, beaded and the like. Your tapestry will combine fibers/threads/and/or cloth and beads in some way, and must consist of at least 70% beads. Beads may form the background canvas of your piece, and/or may be used to embellish your canvas, and/or as fringe, and/or as stitchery covering parts of your piece. Your piece should be mounted or framed in some way, ready for hanging on a wall. Your tapestry may utilize many different techniques. In addition, as a “Mystery Genre Book Cover”, your Beaded Tapestry should woo and entice the viewer to want open that cover and read the book!

Entries will be judged by a panel from The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts. These distinguished Beadwork and Jewelry Artist instructors will judge each beaded tapestry based on

 
1. INSIGHT: The Artist’s inner awareness and powers of self-expression through needle arts and stitchery, fiber arts and beadwork, particularly in terms of how well this year’s Competition theme is incorporated into the piece.
2. TECHNIQUE(S):
a. The range of techniques employed within the piece, and how these are combined and executed.
b. The degree the Artist is successfully able to incorporate 3-Dimensional elements and give depth to the finished piece — layering, embellishment, embroidery, movement, optical effects, color tricks, shapes, textures, patterns, and other structures
c. The strategic and parisomonious placement of visual elements throughout the piece
d. The details — how creatively, strategically, and to what extent story details are presented within the Tapestry
3. USE OF BEADS/BEADING AS ARTISTIC MEDIUM: To what extent the Beaded Tapestry may be viewed as a work of “art”, rather than “craft”; has the Artist fully utilized the power of the “bead” as a medium for art — an expression of color, light, shadow, tactile sense and emotion
4. VISUAL APPEAL: The overall visual appeal of the Beaded Tapestry, and how well it tells a story and seems to grab the Viewer’s attention and motivate the Viewer to want to, in this year’s case, read the book.
5. QUALITY OF WRITTEN ARTIST STATEMENT: How well the Artist’s write-up enhances an appreciation of the Beaded Tapestry, how it captures the theme, as well as the Artist’s talents in design, insight and implementation.

REQUIREMENTS

A. Length and Width: The Beaded Tapestry may be oriented vertically or horizontally. One dimensional leg should be shorter than the other, but no shorter than 8″. The other dimensional leg should be longer than the other, but no longer than 25″. The relative lengths of the shorter and longer dimensions should approximate The Golden Ratio where the longer side is 1.60 times the length of the shorter side (L=1.6*S). Thus, the smallest possible piece would be approximately 8″x13″, and the largest possible piece would be approximately 16″x25″.

B. Backing and Framing: The Beaded Tapestry should be afixed to a secure backing, from which to attach a hanging mechanism, and which is secure enough to support the Tapestry, as it hangs on a wall. This can be as simple as using a piece of foam core or wood panel, or can be more elaborate. The piece may be supported with a frame, and a paper or cloth backing. Any backing/framing/matting will not be counted in the measurement rules and limitations. Thus, if the Beaded Tapestry were 16″x25″, and a frame and matte resulted in a finished piece that was 20″x29″, that would be OK. If the Tapestry is meant to hang like a curtain on a rod, using backing would be optional, depending on whether the backing will help or hinder your piece.

C. Hanging Mechanism: The Beaded Tapestry should have all the mechanical attachments affixed to the backing/frame that allow it to be hung. This might be picture wire strung across the back, or a picture hook, or a dowel that slides through the piece at the top like a curtain.

D. The Tapestry Canvas: The Beaded Tapestry will work off a canvas of some sort. What this canvas is and how it is created, would be up to the Artist. The canvas might be loomed (or stitched in some way) with threads, other fibers, cloth, or beads, or might be a stretched cloth, or might be some kind of surface (or webbing, netting or string-curtain) off of which to work your Tapestry, like bead embroidery off of ultra-suede.

E. The “Cartoon”: The cartoon is the designed image/sketch for your piece. This image should be original, and not have been submitted to any other contests or competitions. The judges are especially interested in how you transfer your cartoon to your tapestry, how you incorporate details, and how you bring dimensionality to your piece. The cartoon, thus final Tapestry as well, must include the Title of your chosen book.

F. The Use of Beads and Fibers: Beads must comprise at least 70% of the the surface of your Beaded Tapestry. A bead is an object with a hole in it. It may be applied to the Tapestry with stitching or sewing. It may be glued. It may be wired. It may be encapsulated. Your final Tapestry may be done with 100% beads, or with a mix of beads and fibers. The judges are especially interested in seeing a mix of techniques within your piece.

G. Relating Your Tapestry To This Year’s Competition Theme – Mystery Genre Book Covers

1. Based on a real book: Your Book Cover must relate to a real, published book.
2. Interpretation of Cover Design must be your own. While it’s logical that you might use elements from an existing cover, it must NOT be a copy of the book’s existing cover.
3. The Title of the Book must be incorporated into your Tapestry design
4. Your Artist statement should reference the book’s title, author, publishing company, and date of publication.
5. “Mystery Genre” refers to fictional and non-fictional books which deal with the solving of a crime.

 
H. The Artist’s Statement: Write a short Artist Statement (between 1000-2000 words), covering the following topics:

1. List the Title of your book, the author, the publishing company, and date of publication.
2. A synopsis of the general story-line of your book. Tell us the story progression. Highlight key characters including the hero or heroine, the victim, clues, mysteries, double-entendres, the murder weapon, the solution/resolution and the like.
3. Why did you choose this book?
4. How did the story-line influence you in your book cover design choices? What details did you decide to highlight on the tapestry? What details in the story line did you decide Not to highlight on the tapestry?
5. What materials did you use to create your book cover tapestry, backing and framing, hanging mechanism, canvas?
6. How did you transfer your Cartoon sketch to your finished Tapestry?
7 . What techniques did you use in creating your book cover tapestry
8 . What were your strategies for creating the Title on the tapestry — fonts, sizes, materials, placement/positioning?
9 . What were your strategies for adding a sense of dimensionality to your book cover tapestry?

 
I. Your Book Cover Tapestry may be done either as an individual or as a collaboration. If a collaboration, please list all the “collaborators” with your submission. Identify one person of the group to be the lead and contact person.

We Need Submissions!

A Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, and composed of two sets of interlaced threads. Threads running parallel to the piece create the tension. Threads running back and across along the width create the pattern or image. It is these threads which show in the traditional tapestry. Tapestries were very portable. They could also be draped on the walls of castles for insulation during winter. They could be hung as decorative interior elements and displays of wealth. The “Cartoon” — that is, the design image — ranged from the purely decorative to tales of heroicism, mysticism, or religiosity. Often, to make these loomed pieces feel more 3-dimensional, they were embellished with beads, pieces of glass, and pieces of mirrored glass, which would create fascinating interplays with light. The beads might be used to create border fringes, or might be sewn into or embroidered onto the tapestries themselves.

In our The Illustrative Beader: Beaded Tapestry Competition, we define the idea of a “Tapestry” very broadly, to include any stitched, sewn and/or woven wall hanging which combines some kind of fiber and beads. Fiber might consist only of the threads used to stitch the beads, or it might include quilted materials, yarn, cord, of anything that might broadly be called Fiber. The Tapestry might be loomed with fibers and embellished with beads. It might be loomed with all beads. The Tapestry does not necessarily have to be loomed in the traditional sense. It might also be knitted and embellished with beads, or quilted or cross-stitched or crocheted or braided and somehow combined with beads. The Tapestry canvas might begin with stretched, appliqued, or quilted cloth. The surface area of the finished Tapestry must be 70% made from beads.

THE ILLUSTRATIVE BEADER: BEADED TAPESTRY COMPETITION: is more than a beauty pageant. It is a design competition. The Competition will take into account the Artist’s intentions and how well these are incorporated into the theme, the design, the materials, the use of techniques, the use of details and elements which create dimensionality.