"Always Go to the Funeral"

My dad sent me the link to this "This I Believe" essay, I like it enough to pass it on to you.

"Always go to the funeral" means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don't feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don't really have to and I definitely don't want to. I'm talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy . . . .

Want your Art to be on the COVER of the next INTERFICTIONS anthology?

As many of you know, I am a co-founder & current Vice President of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. We are working hard on the next Interfictions anthology, but we're not just writers - we also have many artists involved (as those of you who participated in last spring's jewelry auction know well! ). In an effort to reach out to artists and bring more into our gang, we are doing something new and exciting:

The Interstitial Arts Foundation (IAF) is searching for cover art for our second literary anthology, Interfictions II (coming Nov. 2009 from Small Beer Press). All visual artists are invited to submit images for possible use as the cover art of the anthology.

From February 2 - 16, artists are invited to post images on our Flickr group at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/interstitialarts At the end of that time, the editors of Interfictions II, Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak, along with Small Beer Press publisher Gavin Grant and Interfictions I cover artist Connie Toebe, will choose an image for the cover of this exciting original anthology, to be published in November, 2009.

Interstitial art is all about breaking rules, ignoring boundaries, and cross-pollination. Do you have trouble describing your work, or feel that what you do doesn't quite fit in anywhere else? Have you been told you're too commercial for fine art, too fine art for craft shows, or too crafty for a fancy gallery? If your art falls between the cracks of other movements and definitions, it could be just right for us. Art that transcends boundaries is what the Interstitial Arts Foundation is all about. Read more about the IAF, sign up for our e-list, or even become a Friend of the IAF at http://www.interstitialarts.org .

What are we looking for? Any visual image that might look good on the cover of a book. It could be a painting, a computer image, collage, sculpture or maybe even a piece of clothing. The first volume's cover was actually a photo of a 3-dimensional diorama box, so a photo of a sculpture or craft piece is not out of the question. Contributing artists should be sure to consider their art in the context of a book cover. A book cover isn't simply a pretty picture but part of a complete design. If you're photographing a 3-dimensional piece (especially something that isn't rectangular) please remember that the quality of the photo counts as well. A nicely composed photo is as important as the quality of the artwork in the image. The book cover will be 5.5" wide and 8.5" tall so a horizontal or square image might not work as well as a vertically oriented one. That being said, we'd love to be surprised. Show us something we've never seen before!

The details:
( Read more... )

Questions? Post them to the Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/interstitialarts and we'll answer them as soon as possible. Please don't post questions about the art search here on my LJ. I am just the messenger.

Good luck, and we look forward to seeing your artwork!

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Please feel free to tell all your artist friends about this! Link to this post, or cut and paste it, or go straight to the IAF Blogpost!

And if you're not an artist, stop by the new IAF Flickr page between now and Feb. 16th, to see what turns up . . . .