Submit to The Sticker Collective to Join the New Wave of Social Justice
SmART Commons Blog co-editor Mannie McBride interviews student and founder of MCLA’s Sticker Collective, Olivia Bonesteel.
M: For the people who do not know, what is the Sticker Collective?
O: The Sticker Collective originally started as a project for my Grants and Fundraising class within Arts Management. Then it further broadened with another one of Professor Lisa Donovan's classes. For this semester we decided to take that into our Arts and Social Justice class to reframe the idea of student artists creating stickers for students. Specifically creating stickers that bring awareness to some form of social change or justice, to spread awareness with students and with the community. The Sticker Collective is still by students for students, but it has a more specific theme to it at this point.
M: How did you come up with the idea to create this kind of project?
O: Well, it started in the Grants and Fundraising class at the very beginning of the semester, which was last semester for reference. We were asked to come up with a project that we could write a grant for. And I just so happened to think of this idea and it stuck.
M: What kind of art can people submit? Are you looking for digital art or are you accepting all kinds of works?
O: Quite literally anything that can be turned into a sticker. It could be a poem. It can be a photograph. It could be an illustration. The only thing it could not be is a video. Just about anything you could turn into a sticker, we can print it.
M: How do students submit their art and get it to you?
O: Right now we have flyers on campus that say The Sticker Collective on them. There is a QR code, it was briefly not working, but it is back to working again so people can submit that way. Our submission date March 15th is the current deadline, which is the Friday during spring break. People can scan the QR code and they will be able to submit their JPEG or other file format, in addition to some questions about themselves as artist. They can also always email me at ob5364@mcla.edu or if they happen to know my Instagram, they are welcome to DM me, anything like that. Even emailing Professor Lisa Donovan. All super easy ways to submit.
M: What kind of change or awareness are you trying to incite with this project?
O: The kinds of changes we are trying to incite is bringing awareness to the changes that students themselves would like to see. I feel like the school or any organization really can say what they feel students want to see change in, but they do not necessarily reflect exactly what the students want to see. This way we get to have exactly what the students want changed seen and put out.
M: Do you have any more last words to promote the collective to the community?
O: Anyone and anything is welcome to submit. If anybody has any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I am super happy to answer any questions, but as many stickers as you would like to submit, the better. You are welcome to submit multiple drafts or even unfinished works. You can submit that and then we can help you get towards being finished. Just submit. You do not even have to be a professional artist. You can just be an artist every so often. You could create one work in a year, and that could be the work if you want it to be. Anything people want to submit; we are very happy to print it.