Folio: Noun. A collection of related material. A sheet of paper folded in half to make two leaves for a book or manuscript. Created from Latin phrase in foliō in a leaf, from folium leaf.
You can also add “title of Salt Lake Community College’s literary and artistic magazine” to folio’s definition. However, this publication is more than just a cut and dry dictionary.com entry. It is a source of inspiration, a chance for publication and a creative outlet.
Folio is a publication that was begun over ten years ago at SLCC by students and faculty. It is printed each fall and spring. Aimed at providing an artistic opportunity, its typical contents consist of fine art, illustration, photography, digital art, poetry, essays, drama and prose. The publication is then shared throughout the campuses. It is created and compiled in the Administration Building on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus and is a free means of meeting up-and-coming artists, writers and creatives, all of them students who are striving to speak out and share their work.
This year more than ever, Folio’s focus is on providing the means for students to express themselves artistically through resources that have never been offered before by including multimedia (short films, animation, video essays and documentaries) in the online version of the magazine and even placing it in DVD format with the final print editions.
“The reason we’re including multimedia work is that we feel that publications in the 21st Century are often times digitally based, or, certainly nowadays, there is a digital component, whether or not there is an actual print version of the publication. And so to offer the opportunity for digital publishing to students of literature and art who maybe do multimedia work or who collaborate with others on multimedia work, we’ve decided to allow them to showcase their artistic creations. Their modern literature, in a digital way. And that specifically would mean that the content would be posted on the website,” said Jason McFarland, literary editor for Folio.
To add to that, in order to give all students access to the new multimedia submissions, the Folio staff is preparing to take the situation one step further.
“We’re planning on doing something new this semester; to include a DVD of the digital content as an insert in the print publication. And also, we’re fairly early in the semester at this point, so we’re early in our planning process, but the idea is that we’d really like to find ways to showcase literature and art in our modern ways,” said McFarland.
This option would allow students to access the multimedia work of others without ever having to go online for it, allowing accessibility to the content anywhere, provided you have a DVD drive available. And if you don’t then there’s always one last option.
“But in addition to having DVDs as inserts, most likely we will also have a packaged digital publication as a download on the website so that not only can you view the publication online, but you’ll be able to actually download it so that you can put it on your Kindle or your Nook. And the great thing about those, as you probably know, is that a digital publication doesn’t have the limitations that a print publication has in terms of multimedia content. So the digital publication that a student would be able to put on their Kindle or Nook or other eReader or iPad is that that publication would then be embedded, potentially, with videos and audio and other kinds of media,” he said.
A similar example would be an examination of two people, one which is skilled at video editing while the other is talented with traditional artistic mediums. But regardless of the dissimilarities, both are expressing themselves through creative outlets and deserve the chance to showcase their talents.
“I really feel strongly,” McFarland stated on the subject, “that creative people, especially people who are creative nowadays, often use digital mediums. I guess this is not a new thing, but people who are artistic cross boundaries a lot…so we feel strongly about those works of art being important to showcase in a publication. We’re pretty adamant about not having any limitations through print.”
These, however, are only the beginning of Folio’s widening options. For among the multimedia presentations being allowed, it’s also suggested that other creative outlets be shared as well. These include fashion design illustration and photography of culinary creations.
Recipes are even suggested, in a manner half-joking and half serious. But McFarland’s last words are as serious as they are honest; a fervent undercurrent driving him to speak one more time.
“The more diverse the submissions, the better. Anything that blows our minds. The most important thing is for students to be creative and share their creativity.”
To submit pieces, whether they be traditional or otherwise, visit http://www.folioslcc.org for detailed submission guidelines. All pieces themselves should be sent to folioslcc@gmail.com.
For images, make sure they’re high-res and exclude watermarks.
October 3 is the last day for visual art and literature submissions, while October 31 is the deadline for multimedia.
