‘Free as a Bird’Mixed media collage by Sage Millen, 11 (Vancouver, Canada). Published September 2019. A note from Sarah Ainsworth I am a big fan of collages and all of the artistic possibilities they represent. If you look at the fine print to see what medium they are, it usually says “mixed media.” The category of “mixed media” has always struck me as an unfair standardization of such varied artwork. But at the same time, those two words do give the artist room to explore—after all, there are so many media you can mix! Plus, it lends an air of mystery to artwork, as a viewer is often left wondering what materials they did mix. I was excited to see two of Sage Millen’s collages published in this month’s issue (one of them featured in last week’s Newsletter). In the one featured above, Free as a Bird, can you identify all of the materials that Sage used? How many “layers” of media are there? My challenge for you this weekend is simply to create a collage. You can begin by assembling the materials you’d like to use, like magazines or colored paper. Is there anything in your recycling bin that you could use (and is clean enough to handle)? Maybe you want to incorporate some natural elements, as Sage does in her pieces. Then the fun begins! If you create a collage you’re proud of, please send it to us via Submittable so we can consider it for publication! Happy weekend, Fundraising Update: the Refugee Project has almost reached its target already! We are overwhelmed. Within days of launching our appeal for donations toward our Refugee Project, you had already donated almost all of our total goal! We set $5,000 as our target, thinking it was a huge stretch and that we’d be lucky to get even halfway there. But we only need $300 more to make it. Yes, our readers and supporters have already donated an incredible $4,700 to this project. You are all just amazing. Thank you! It’s obvious that this initiative means as much to our readers as it does to us. Besides being delighted to have the funding in place to support the creative journeys of kids in refugee camps, the whole Stone Soup team is really buoyed up by knowing that you, our extended Stone Soup family, are in this with us. This is our fall fundraiser, and the season has barely begun. That $5,000 target is clearly in view, and maybe we are going to beat it! Click the button below if you want to join in supporting this project. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Take a look at the beautiful artwork that former contributor Jessica Libor creates in the interview we published with her from Tuesday. Jessica illustrated two stories from 2000, “A Strike for the Wind” and “A Christmas Wish,” and wrote and illustrated “Seventeen Years,” from 2001. Her interview is full of great advice. From Stone Soup, September 2019 Trenza Francesa, French Braids By Alina Samarasan, 12 (Brookline, MA) Illustrated by Sage Millen, 11 (Vancouver, Canada) “¡Ven aquí, Carlita! ¡No puedes ir a la escuela así! Tu cabello es un desastre!” Come here, Carlita! You can not go to school like that! Your hair is a mess! I walk into the room and sit down so Mamá can reach my hair, wishing that she spoke English. Then I wouldn’t be so embarrassed at school. Then no one would tell me to go back to Mexico. My family’s from Cuba, not Mexico, and I wasn’t even born there. I was born here, unlike most of the kids at school, but that doesn’t really matter. Don’t be like them, my big brother said. Don’t fall to their level. You’re better than them, Carlita. And make that known. …/MORE Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Former Contributor Interview: Jessica Libor
Editor’s Note: our Former Contributors Interview Project showcases former contributors of Stone Soup and the wonderful things they’ve gone on to do. Jessica Libor illustrated “A Strike for the Wind,” from our March/April 2000 issue, “A Christmas Wish,” from November/December 2000, and wrote and illustrated “Seventeen Years,” from July/August 2001. SS: What are you doing now? I’m living in Philadelphia, currently working as a drawing and painting teacher at Harcum College. I also am the founder of a pop-up gallery “Era Contemporary” and paint and create artwork! I have a solo exhibition coming up on September 4th at the Da Vinci Art Alliance called “Nature’s Daughters.” I love making work about nature and femininity and how they integrate. I work in oil paints and real gold and silver leaf, and my work has a strong storytelling aspect to it! “The Butterflies,” a painting by Jessica from 2019 SS: What did Stone Soup mean to you? JL: Stone Soup was one of my first successes as a young artist, and made me feel like I could actually take a career in art seriously! I remember when I had a story and pictures both published and I felt like I had “made it!” It seriously meant a lot to me, and the feeling that people would see value in my work was embedded in my mind at that young age. It definitely helped propel my vision for the future as an artist! SS: Do you have any advice for current readers, writers, and artists who contribute to Stone Soup? JL: Yes, I would say always create from the heart and not for acclaim or success. Anything created with passion from the heart will always touch people in a much stronger way than anything you would create just to publish or to sell. Think about the things that you are passionate about and let that carry your work! When I wrote the story that was published in Stone Soup, I stayed up late for a week typing it all up on my typewriter, getting lost in the story because I had to get it onto paper. Only afterwards did I worry about where I would send it! Also, be disciplined in practicing your craft. To get good at art takes a lot of time, energy and focus, but it is worth it to see your vision come to life! Are you a former Stone Soup writer or artist and interested in being interviewed? We’d love to hear from you! Please reach out to sarah@stonesoup.com for more information.
Saturday Newsletter: September 7, 2019
‘The Golden Brick Road’ Mixed media collage by Sage Millen, 11 (Vancouver, Canada). Published September 2019. A note from William Rubel I have been looking through the submissions to our recently closed contest for a book-length manuscript. A lot of you entered! I’m impressed. It isn’t just that there are so many entries, it is that the quality of the entries is exceedingly high. As a fellow writer, I can see how much work you put into the submissions. It seems like a lot of you are interested in writing book-length works, whether that is a single work of fiction or a collection of stories or poems. You have to think differently when working at this larger scale. We are pleased to see so many of you are rising to that challenge. A grocery store a block from my house has a sign board facing the street. This week the message reads, “Summer should get a speeding ticket.” That is certainly how I feel. Where did it go? Those of you who keep a journal are in a better position than most of us to answer that question. I am sure that at the beginning of summer I suggested (as I always do) keeping a journal. Did you? If so, please look through it to see whether there is anything there that you think we’d like to publish or post and, if there is, please submit it to the blog section in Submittable so that Stone Soup’s editors can read it. Rather than give you a new project for this Saturday I’d like to encourage you to go to a portion of the Stone Soup website that we know many of you haven’t noticed. That is the section of the website with writing and art activities. Subscribers who are logged in to their accounts have unlimited access. I’d like to say how much I like Sage Millen’s artwork, “The Golden Brick Road.” It is on the edge between art that is representational and art that is abstract. The colors draw me in. I want to follow that golden brick road. You? And if so, where to? Below, also from the September Issue, you will find Layla Linnard’s poem, “Us Three.” Wow! So simple. And so not simple. Until next week Our Current Fundraising Appeal: the Refugee Project This past week we sent out details of our late Summer/Fall fundraiser: raising funds to support the production and publication of creative work by children in refugee camps around the world. We want to raise a total of $5,000 to support workshops run by and for kids in camps, a Special Issue of Stone Soup, and associated projects–and you, our generous readers and supporters, have got us off to a terrific start. Within a few hours of our first letter going out, you had donated almost $500. That’s already enough to cover the first kids’ workshop being run by 3 talented teens living in Za’atari Refugee Camp. Please share the news of this appeal, and help us raise the money to continue this work. You can read more about this initiative at our website and help us by sharing the link with others. Thank you. Click here to donate to support our refugee project. Customer service and online accounts Last week we launched a new Customer Service FAQ which we hope you are finding helpful. We wanted to remind you that our previously published customer service email address(es) and telephone numbers are no longer functional, and we do not currently have a facility to take telephone queries. We intend to reintroduce a phone facility within the coming months, and for now we ask you please to email us with all of your requests and questions at subscriptions@stonesoup.com. We will keep you informed about improvements to our customer service as we work on it over the coming weeks. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Are you familiar with Kabaddi? Blogger Himank walks us through the basics of the sport this week. Plus, stay tuned for a more in-depth post about Kabaddi, coming soon! From Stone Soup, September 2019 Us Three By Layla Linnard, 11 (Weston, MA) I liked it a few months ago It was just us three There was no sharing my room There was no screaming baby I at least slept when It was just us three It was just us three I at least slept when There was no screaming baby There was no sharing my room It was just us three I liked it a few months ago Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
