shapetionary is the new dictionary

Why are some entries in the dictionary accompanied by pictures, and others... not? It doesn't seem fair, does it?

Toronto artist Margaret Flood wants to change all that. But she needs your help. Here's the deal:

Help Create the Shapetionary!

What is the Shapetionary? It’s a visual index of objects.

It started from looking at the dictionary and wondering why some words are illustrated and others aren’t, then thinking it would be interesting to illustrate the whole dictionary, or all the object nouns...then organize them by shape.

So I extracted all, or most (aprox 9500), of the object nouns, now I am setting out to get them illustrated by as many different people as possible. I am interested in our subjective/collective understandings of objects. So far over 550 people are participating, I estimate that between 1200-1500 drawers are needed.

If you want to have your drawing in a dictionary, this is your time to shine - and seriously, when does this opportunity ever come up? We're talking about a once in a lifetime chance here. To participate, email Margaret Flood at velvetbicycle [at] hotmail [dotcom] and she'll send you a list of 6-8 words and instructions. All participants will be acknowledged in the final book.

Margaret was interviewed about her project by the National Post.

Q The best submission so far?
Flood It's hard to say. I got a really nice corpse the other day.

Sounds like my kind of project.