#FolktaleWeek2019 Starts November 4th & You Are All Invited!

Promotional art for sharing for #FolktaleWeek2019 by @carolinebonnemuller

Did you know there is now a yearly #FolktaleWeek happening on social media? (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook)

Originally created by a group of talented artists and children's book illustrators from all around the world, #FolktaleWeek has now expanded to include folks of all kinds, both amateur and pro, and people are encouraged to submit any form of creative work on the theme they wish. Last year they had writers, illustrators, painters, textile artists, embroiderists (!), photographers, papercrafters, cosplayers and more. They're hoping to see even more variety, from even more people this year.

Please note: in this post we have included just a few (truly!) of a huge variety of lovely pieces by folks declaring their commitment to being involved. Most of these here are by pros, but if you're not a professional artist or illustrator, don't let that stop you! (Have a look at the hashtag on Instagram HERE for a look at the HUGE variety of styles and contributions - there are so very many already, and of all levels and styles.) If the idea has you intrigued, you probably have something to contribute! There are many forms of response to the prompts and every expression is personal and unique and appreciated. It's a wonderful challenge and you might just surprise yourself...

Here's the info for this year and the directions to follow:

As temperatures start to drop and leaves start to change, it can only mean one thing: #folktaleweek is coming. This year, we’re releasing the prompts even earlier, so you’ll have plenty of time to discover folktales, work on art, or even write your own tales. And to help you get off to a good start, our friends at @illostories are dedicating their October workbook to Folktale Week!* 

by @carolinebonnemuller

Are you in? Let us know by reposting this image or making your own! 

How it works:We’ll release the prompts on Oct 7th. Then on Nov 4th, follow the prompts and share a piece of art each day. Interpret the prompts however you like. Everyone is encouraged to join in the fun. 

Use the hashtags #folktaleweek and #folktaleweek2019 to show your work and interact with other artists. The challenge hosts will pull work from the hashtags to share in our stories! 

*To get the FolkTale Week prep workbook released on Oct 6th, artists *You can join IlloStories via the link on their profile. Membership is open to artists who answer a few short questions. Doors will open to the IlloStories FaceBook group on Sept 30th and will close on Oct 13th. This is not a paid endorsement. We’re just buddies who support each other. 

Folktale Week 2019 was developed by a group of talented artists from all around the world. 

* * * * * * * 

Although this was a ridiculously difficult task, we chose a small selection from the many (many!) available, to show you the range of styles and approaches. We're didn't even get to see them all and didn't have room for all our 'favorites' but hopefully, you get the idea that anything-you-feel-like-creating goes! Click on any image to see it much bigger. Each artist's Instagram handle is below the corresponding row so you can see more of their work and follow them if you'd like. (Apologies for any odd formatting - there are a lot of pictures for Blogger to handle!)

We hope these inspire you!

@clara.phil / @sich2.1 / @irenesilvinodesign

@meg.vermaak / @debrastyer / @trudi_murray

If you're a writer, artist, doodler, comic-creator, multimedia artist, sculptor, animator, filmmaker, crafter, poet, puppet-maker, printmaker... heck, anyone who is inspired to respond in any manner on the subject of folktales and that days' prompt, take a chance, jump in and join the fun!

They are a really supportive bunch of people who love fairy tales and folktales, just like you do. You'll be in great company.

@mustudiomagic / @vonderstang_e / @sofiamoore_studio

@lunartcy / @laurairrgang / @paululadesign

@elizabethsparg / @yaga_blackhouse / @suwin.chan

@kudjakam / @hannahjdyson  / @creativebrenda

@desertcritters / @chelsealearnstodraw / @sara_netherway_illustration

@sandrabowersart/ @cinderellasews / @junulabean

@maxineleemackie / @nadjasarell / @ul_zak

@jinjermarkley / @melissagardenerart / @theuglymugwort

@caroleemcmullin / @illostories / @kimberlyjthorstenson

@spikedeane_art / @neelydaggett / @alena_selenina

@khabibova_alevtina / @light_drops  / @artbyemilyskinner

 @jessica.flores.design  / @jumbradshaw  / @samrudddesign

@kaizendoodles  / @annna_oparina  / @robotswebe2

Already so many styles, tales and approaches!
Make sure you go to Instagram HERE to see many (MANY!) more.
We are very much looking forward to seeing all the fairy tale creations during #FolktaleWeek2019!

by @kathryndurst

Rappaccini's Daughter (unrolled thread from #FolkloreThursday)

For those that missed our exploration of Nathaniel Hawthorne's fairy tale short story Rappaccini's Daughter on #FolkloreThursday (via a thread of tweets over the afternoon), please enjoy it "unrolled" below. The theme for the week was plants and flowers. (Note: Twitter has a limited character count so language is necessarily brief and abbreviated at times to keep concepts within a single tweet. We have kept the original format - tweet by tweet - intact.)

Rappaccini's Daughter is a fairy tale/short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne about a girl who lives in a poisonous garden, having become poisonous herself due to her botanist/mad scientist father's experiments. A young scholar sees her over the wall & falls in love. #FolkloreThursday 

“..as if she were another flower, human sister of those vegetable ones—more beautiful than the richest— still to be touched only with a glove, nor to be approached without a mask. ...she handled & inhaled odor of several plants, which her father had sedulously avoided.”

Boy enters via a secret door, meets her, idly touches her 'sister' flower, she grabs his hand away - POISONOUS! - he finds a painful burn on it the next day. 

Love and poison spread on through the story. (Read the notes on the room cutaway attached for cool story details.)

"Beatrice is beautiful, but also poisonous. Readers expect a hidden evil (religious allegory). Beatrice maps easily to Eve, Giovanni to Adam, and the rendezvous-enabling landlady to the serpent. But wait - if the garden is Eden why is it all poisonous?" (Ruthanna commentary)

There's a nice tie-in with Visha Kanya - girls bred as assassins. "Their bodily fluids (some say touch or gaze) were rendered poisonous by a careful regimen of poisons countered by antidotes, until the immune assassin was in her own person a deadly weapon." Hello Poison Ivy!

Check this graphic summary of the Poison Ivy & Rappaccini's Daughter connection/similarities (including that Hawthorne's story has a strong underlying eco-message & Poison Ivy is actually an eco-warrior with zero subtlety). May need to right-click-open in separate tab to read.

There are some issues with the innocence/naivete of Beatrice - does she have to be so clueless?- but the science versus nature aspect of the tale is interesting, esp. as it underscores feminist issues (whether intentionally or not). Sadly it ends tragically -of course.

It's a rich tale that could use some attention as a movie or short series, especially with a sensitive writer keeping the layers intact while updating. Perhaps Beatrice secretly had a (plant-born) daughter before she died & named her Pamela... (aka Poison Ivy's birth name).

The beautiful animation development you've seen in this thread is by the talented Chi Ngo. You can see more of her work on this project (sadly never developed into a film) here: chi-ngo.com/rappaccini/

Rappaccini's Daughter seems to be most often 'retold' in operatic circles and it's easy to see why. Check out some of these beautiful productions.

It's difficult to find novels that have mined this treasure, but here's a couple: "The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter" (@theodoragoss) has Beatrice as a character; "A Fierce & Subtle Poison" (Samantha Mabry) set in Puerto Rico using local folklore, bases the novel on it.

Favorite related books: "The Poison Diaries" hardcover by Jane Duchess of Northumberland (Author), Colin Stimpson (Illustrator) is part botanical workbook and part diary of a boy's (named Weed) own relationship with poisonous plants. The novel, "The Poison Dairies", tells the story.

Here are some of the amazing illustrations created for the 'journal' by Colin Stimpson.

Favorite #2 is "Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities" by Amy Stewart (Briony Morrow-Cribbs-Illustrator), which, interestingly, opens with a Hawthorne quote from "The Scarlet Letter" & discusses Rappaccini's Daughter in the intro.

There's even a coloring book...

And an exhibit based on the book! Check out the video promotion in which the author speaks about her book, poisonous plants and creating the storytelling exhibit. (It's super cool!)

I'll finish by adding a screenshot of the quote which links "The Scarlet Letter" and "Rappaccini's Daughter", from the beginning of "Wicked Plants" (by Amy Stewart). 

(Art above by Marta Dahlig-Orlowska, "The Poison Garden")

Thank you for exploring this fairy tale femme fatale with me today! 

Note: The Poison Ivy portrait is by Joshua Middleton - Variant cover of Batman vol. 3, #26 (Sept. 2017)