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VVC’s One Book One College Art Contest
Entries accepted October 3 – November 19, 2021
Create an artwork and artist statement inspired by One Book, One College’s selected book of the year, The Marrow Thieves. Select one prompt to respond to either Prompt 1 or Prompt 2 & read the instructions and formal guidelines below carefully.
Prompt 1
Represent your history or culture through artwork. Consider how your art piece might provide visual storytelling about your culture—either a literal interpretation of cultural stories or a creative interpretation from the artist’s viewpoint.
Prompt 2
Your artwork must be inspired by or represent the significance of one of the following passages provided below from The Marrow Thieves.
Passage 1:
“Dreams get caught in the webs woven in your bones. That’s where they live, in that marrow there [...] I imagined spiderwebs in my bones and turned my palm towards the moon, watching the ballet of bones between my elbow and wrist twist to make it so. I saw webs clotted with dreams like fat flies. I wondered if the horses I’d ridden into this dawn were still caught in there like bugs, whinnying at the shift.” - Marrow Thieves, “The Fire.”
Passage 2:
“The earth was broken. Too much taking for too damn long, so she finally broke. But she went out like a wild horse, bucking off as much as she could before lying down. A melting North meant the water levels rose and the weather changed. It changed to violence in some cases, building tsunamis, spinning tornados, crumbling earthquakes, and the shapes of countries were changed forever, whole coasts breaking off like crust.” - Marrow Thieves, “Story, part II.”
Passage 3:
“Dad?
I crossed the distance between us with my packs still strapped to my back. I don’t remember when I pulled them off. All I know is that when I threw myself to the ground and into the circle of his arms I was small again: no baggage, no years in the bush, no murder. I was small and he was huge and everything was okay.” - Marrow Thieves, “Found.”
Artist Statement: All students must type no more than a 200-word count artist statement. The statement should include how the artwork relates to the prompt selected. Along with any personal inspirations connected to the artwork.
Eligibility: Open to all current VVC Students. Students can only submit one artwork/artist statement. This is an online contest, and the winners’ artwork will be displayed on VVC OBOC media sites. Students may be asked to display their artwork on campus.
Submission Type Media: The artwork can be either traditional crafts or fine arts, such as painting, drawing, digital art, collage, sculpture, photograph, mixed media (2-Dimensional or 3-Dimensional) or quilts, bead work, jewelry, wood work, ceramics, fibers and fabric.
Entry Deadline: Friday, November 19, 2021 by 11:59 p.m.
Submissions: Artwork must be submitted in digital format. Entry form must be filled out in its entirety. All entries must be submitted through the VVC website. For instructions on how to submit, please go to the One Book, One College site, select the “OBOC 2021 Art Contest” tab and follow the guidelines
- Name the title of the artwork as the file name
- File must be submitted in digital format (can scan or photograph artwork)
- Jpeg file
- Resolution 72 DPI (Dots per inch)
- Less than 10 MB (megabyte)
Instructions: Please either scan your artwork or take a photograph in well balance light. Crop out all background elements.
Award: The artwork will be juried by a panel of judges. Winners’ artwork will be displayed on OBOC’s social media. There will be three awards. On November 30, the top 10 candidates will be announced for recognition on OBOC’s Instagram @victorvalleycollegeoboc. The top 3 winners will officially be notified in early December and personally contacted by an Art faculty member.
Contact for Contest: If anyone has any questions, please contact Anna-Marie Veloz: annamarie.veloz@vvc.edu Please specify in the email subject line: “Question OBOC Art Contest”
Disclaimer Agreement: By submitting your artwork to Victor Valley College’s One Book One College contest, you agree that your artwork and artist statement is entirely original and created by you. VVC and its employees will not make changes or edits to the artwork submitted. Therefore, the photograph of your artwork must display proper perspective, proportions, and lighting upon submission. Submission of your work means that you are willing and agree to have your artwork displayed on VVC’s online resources and may be displayed on VVC Campus. Any submissions deemed as plagiarized will be disqualified from the contest.
