Owls multiplying on internet

April 4, 2007

The wonder and horror of the internet is that stories have a life of their own.

File this one under wonder: in October, Elaine Magliaro posted a call to arms on the Blue Rose Girls site, a blog focussed on children’s illustration. The call?

I am inviting you on behalf of Dr. David White, the director of the [Keene State College] Children’s Literature Festival, to be a contributor to the college’s Festival Owl Project. The college will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2009. It is the goal of the Festival to have 100 owls [drawn by published children's literature artists] for that special occasion. (They now need about 30 more owls.) The Blue Rose Girls have already informed David of their intent to participate in the “owl” campaign.

Come join the Blue Rose Girls in helping Keene State College to reach its goal in time for their big celebration in 2009!

It took a bit of time, but eventually Matt Phelan responded to the call. You can see his owl here.

Inspired by Mr. Phelan, Elizabeth Dulemba went public with her own owl.

For the artists, the cool thing here is that through blogs they are doing what groups of artists have always done: encouraging each other in their work. For Keene State, the cool thing is we get two owls we might not have had.

And for the rest of us, we get to see these pieces early, which may be the best bargain of all.

More on the Owls Project here and the Children’s Literature Festival here.

Posted in CLF, Children's Literature, Web 2.0