Sticking My Neck Out

I just did something that I'm excited about and a little nervous about--and I feel a little dumb about. I entered a book I made into a juried exhibition.

I made the book for work over the summer about a man named Howard Driggs. Our library (where I work) aquired his collection a year or so ago and the Special Collections librarians have been working furiously to organize it and make it searchable online. This September we had an official opening of the collection complete with a program, photo exhibit and open house of the collection's artifacts. I put together the photo exhibit, all the displays, and made books to give as gifts to Driggs' decendents.

I combed through his old journals (he lived from 1873 to 1963) and speeches to find inspiring quotes (he was a pretty inspiring man) then I searched through his photographs and selected images that corresponded with the quotations. I combined these to make a 50 page book that was pamphlet stitched into a wrapped cover.

It's a really simple book but I really feel like it was well received. During the family members' addresses at the opening, they made references to several of the quotes that I used in the book. They remembered him saying these things over and over when they were children. That made me really happy. Also, the family requested that I make 20 more copies of the book. That made me feel pretty good.

Anyway today I unofficially submitted it to a juried exhibit of handbound books. I don't know if it will get in or if it even really fits the show's paramaters. But I never ever submit anything to anything. I always plan to then I just wimp out at the last minute.

Well, this is WAY before the deadline and I've submitted. So hooray! We'll see what happens.