Text Appeal
The 5th Annual Text Ball to benefit the Independent Publishing Resource Center
Best Text
Erica Hijazi constructed a bow from a 1939 Willamette College newspaper she unearthed while picking up a VCR purchased on Craigslist. Hijazi and her date, Frank DeFrancesco—who wore a tie constructed from the same newspaper—took home the Costume Contest’s grand prize for Best Text.
Best Use of Type
( L ) Mark Anen shows off his G-Man costume ( it means a Government Man). Though, based on his bling, this could stand for Gangster Man.
( R ) Size does matter: Melanie and Luke Rolka in matching A Cup and D Cup costumes. Luke won Best Use of Type in the Text Ball costume contest.
The B’s Have It
( L ) David Schaeffer is The Letter Bee (Get it? It’s a bee…holding a letter.)
( R ) Heather MacKenzie and John Niekrasz, are Bee Keepers
God Says —
Viva Las Vegas, Text Ball’s hostess, shows off her “God Says” T-shirt, which she made for Easter Sunday when she was 23. We’re not allowed tell you what the rest of the T-shirt says. Viva’s reading from hew new book, The Gospel According to Viva Las Vegas raised about $100 for the IPRC, as she cheekily stopped at opportune moments to pass a hat around.
View Slideshow »Dante’s Inferno Skirt
Red fabric, feathers, and pages from the text of Dante’s Inferno itself went into creating the four circles of Aimee Pedretti’s own personal (and beautiful) hell.
Prizes for Costumes
The evenings’ trophies were created by students in the Oregon College of Art and Craft’s MFA in Book Arts program and were given to costume contest winners.
Smarty-Pants
Jen Weaver-Neist’s homemade “smarty pants” costume was topped off with funky shades and a pseudo-crown of metallic paper flowers for extra sparkle.
The Dudes
( L ) Carl Larson as Text on the Beach
( R ) Ken Southerland is Crow Magazine Man
Letter-hosen
Independent Publishing Resource Center board member and Text Ball organizer, Marilyn Zornado, with Justin Hocking, director of the IPRC. Hocking dressed in letter-hosen. Zornado wore a silk robe hand-painted with words and phrases.
Gothic Type Cape
The crowd swirls around IPRC board member and book artist Barb Tetenbaum in her “Gothic Type” cape, as she swoops towards the dirty limerick station.
Dirty Limericks
One of the many limericks submitted in the dirty limerick contest. Some were handwritten, while others opted for nostalgic use of the typewriter.
Crossword Puzzles
Text Ball attendees (left to right) Francesca Zivny, Emma Monrad, Grace Zivny work on a crossword puzzle together.
Runner-up: Most Literary
Myrlin Hermes hand-made her costume, which featured the entire text of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129: “The expense of spirit in a waste of shame is lust in action…”
Dirty Limericks Station
By mid-evening, the limerick station was littered with empty wine cups and, most likely, a few more…creative…limericks than before.
Crossword Puzzles are for Friends
Chris McCrew and IPRC staff member Lillian Karabaic work out a crossword puzzle. Karabaic jokingly described Text Ball as “getting a bunch of socially awkward people together and making them interact.” She added, “We found out a long time ago that wordcrosses are the only way to get people to talk to each other.”
This year marked the 5th annual Text Ball, organized by the Independent Publishing Resource Center and an integral part of the Wordstock festival. This year’s theme, “Text Appeal,” inspired a variety of alluring costumes—all home-made—ranging from clothing and accessories made from newsprint and book pages (including fiery Dante’s Inferno), to punny getups focusing on letters, phrases, and book titles. Watch the slideshow for more costumes.
The IPRC welcomed over 100 guests and featured the costume contest, a dirty limerick contest, crossword puzzles and a silent auction. Hostess Viva Las Vegas performed a reading from her new book, “The Gospel According to Viva Las Vegas.”
The Text Ball raised $2,600 for the IPRC, a non-profit that strives to encourage community and self-expression by providing the tools for individuals to create independently published media and artwork. Learn more about the IPRC at iprc.org.
Sounds great until you see the costumes… then it’s just kind of sad.
There’s nothing sad about those costumes, R5—they’re amazing! The prize-winning Dante’s Inferno dress is gorgeous.