2008 Maple Festival Pageant Stamp Illustration

Name: Jessica Mosier
Name of Design: Maple Festival Pageant 2008
Software Used: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0
Date: March 24, 2009
Paragraph: My stamp design was based upon the little town of Marathon’s annual Maple Festival. Every year towards the end of March or early April the Maple Festival “kicks off” with the annual Maple Festival Pageant on Friday night at 7:30. Young ladies in grades 9 through 12 are allowed to participate, and the number of girls who compete varies every year, usually it is between 25 to 35 girls who compete. The night consists of choreographed singing and dancing “numbers”, a long walk where each girl talks about her future plans, and other opportunities to talk to the audience based upon that year’s theme. By the end of the night five finalists are chosen, and then they must answer a series of questions for the judges, and the judges are giving points for 1 to 10 based on beauty, grace, and presentation. The finalists are then told what place they received, and the Maple Festival Queen is crowned. The Queen and her court are hostesses for the Maple Festival weekend, and also take part in parades and activities throughout the rest of the year. I chose to use the New York Movement and based my stamp on that style. When I think of the New York Movement I think of pop art, and the use of black, white, and red. I looked at various designs from the movement and wanted to give my stamp a pop art look, which is why I made the bodies black and white, and left the dresses and trophies in color, and I even amped up the colors for a more dramatic effect. Making the background black really helped give it more “pop”, and then the red border around the outside allowed my stamp to have an even more dramatic effect. I think pop art is very bold, colorful, and dramatic and my stamp gives off that same effect.