ASSET AWARDS POSTER CONTEST:
ART BUILDS STRONG BONES!
French: We gotta find those boys! Sign'em to a big fat contract! If we don't, the competition will!
Man: Oh mercy, yes. You gotta beat that competition!
Click Here to vote for your favorite poster!
The Thirties: times were tough! Folks needed to be reminded that there were still things in life to be glad about, like the sanitation department and the fact that they weren't blind from drinking bootleg hooch... yet. While not much was great about the Great Depression, those WPA posters were pretty keen!
Posters created to promote the Works Progress Administration's efforts offered Americans a wholesome guide to life in saturated color, condensed into snappy slogans and strident visuals. These posters made everyday living seem full of possibilities and implied that good health could be maintained by following a few graphically dynamic directives. Work -- if you could get it -- was made somehow nobler, and cogs were suddenly cool-looking. Despite the dust-covered chaos of the times, the WPA posters showed unblemished, neatly coiffed women and robust, muscular men all across America enjoying themselves at the zoo, the dentist... and even the library!
If you've never seen these posters, check 'em out, because they are the inspiration for this year's ASSET Awards "O Budget, Where Art Thou?" Poster Contest that will be showcased in the lobby of the Main Library -- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/wpahome.html. You may create an exact replica or take the WPA posters as a starting point for your own creativity. We encourage entries to have a slogan and/or obviously "promote" something, such as a product, practice or idea. Library or department-relevant subject matter is a bonus, but optional. Really, all that's required is a poster that we can tell was WPA-inspired.
Your poster may be used to promote your departmental movie, but judging for the two contests will be completely independent. The poster can also be used to promote your department and all the fine work going on in it, such as "We're making copies!" or "Shelving: If it Ain't Shelved, it's Like It Don't Exist!" Your poster and its inspirational slogan may be as sarcastic or as naively earnest as you wish.
Remember to mind your parameters! The dimensions of the display cases are as follows:
- Central cases: 117 x 34 x 12 inches
- Side cases: 20 x 54 inches (and just a few inches deep)
Your art may be 3-D, but it obviously must be able to fit inside the case. You may use any type of medium provided it doesn't stain, rot or negatively affect other entries or the display case in any way.
Please email Kat Leache (kleache@uga.edu) if you are planning to submit a poster. If you know the approximate dimensions, please include that as well.
- Sign-up deadline: Friday, July 10, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.
- Posters due: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. (please "title" your poster for display purposes - a post-it will do, we'll make the cards)
Posters will be on display from July 17 through July 31. On July 17th, we'll host an opening reception from 3 to 4 p.m. in the lobby of the Main Library featuring Depression-era delicacies! The winner by popular vote will be announced at the ASSET Awards ceremony on Thursday, July 23rd and receive a swell prize!
Contact Kat Leache (kleache@uga.edu) or Jan Levinson (jlevinso@uga.edu) with any questions.