In the Mood for Kid Book Art...?

Each year the Society of Illustrators celebrates artwork by illustrators of children’s books in the United States to display the talent and creativity that goes into making children’s literature what it is. “The Original Art” showcase is currently on its 33^rd year and is as extraordinary as ever.

Currently the showcase is being display North of San Diego in Carlsbad. The exhibit will be on display from September 7 until November 23, 2014 at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery.

This year’s showcase includes artists Steven Jenkins, The Brothers Hilts, and Laetitia Devernay, as well as Sophie Blackall, Raul Colon, Gerard Dubois, William Joyce, David Small, Naoko Stoop, and many more!

This is a wonderful opportunity to see what the world of children’s literature is creating today. Whether you’re a student looking for the newest and hottest trends in children books and artwork, someone who works in the children’s literature industry, or even someone who is just curious about what makes children’s books so enjoyable for all ages, this is definitely worth checking out.

Upcoming events in the art gallery include:

• Saturday, November 8: Family Open Studios Plus
• Saturday, October 11: A Fancy Tea Party with 2014 Children’s Choice Book Awards Illustrator of the Year, Robin Preiss Glasser, best known for the “Fancy Nancy” books

Check out the site for more details:

http://news.carlsbadca.gov/news/new-exhibition-the-original-art-comes-to-cannon-art-gallery

Notes:

• The Cannon Art Gallery is located at Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane.
  For further details please call 760-602-2021
• Admission is free

Nerdy, Adventurous Childhood Artwork

Just a drop of nostalgia to jumpstart your week here:

I recently came across a blog post presenting the works of artist Craig Davidson, who has captured what it was like to be a child of the "Star Wars"-verse, all imaginative light sabers, jedi mind tricks, and laser blasters galore.

His art shows exactly how the child interacts and manipulates the environment in order to bring the world to life. This is what kids do. It's precisely what I did, so to see the shadowed backdrop of iconic characters given life by these young kids felt like a mirror into my own adventures. It reminds me of countless children's books where kids do create their own worlds and have to fight to defend it (my own favorite Bridge to Terabithia comes to mind).

I do wonder, of course, about the gender roles being blatantly spelled out here. Can we only be inspired by, excited about and act out characters of our own sex?  (No.)
I checked out Davidson's collection and was startled to see his artwork concretely categorized as "Boys" and "Girls." I haven't looked through everything yet, but admit I do love the ferocious energy and contemplative outlooks his depictions of kids have. On my quick exploration, one collection did stand out:

The "Chums" series (look under Sea). I think my Gothic in Children's Lit class would have a lot to say about the association of the feminine with sharks. What do you think of all his art?

Pop-Ups from Prague -- an Eye-Popping Exhibit

As a child I dabbled in designing pop-up creations with construction paper--primarily rudimentary books and curious city-scapes. A star architect was born! (And resided in my cosmically themed "Star City") But eventually that fizzled, though the fascination with the pop-up itself never left, and why should it? The tangible depth given to illustrations, rising from the very medium of the book itself--just minutely crafted paper!--can be mesmerizing. That's why I found this recent article in the New York Times on an exhibit of a Czech artist's pop-up books and artwork so captivating. It is (not so) simply a demonstration of art and engineering intermingled -- the architecture of artwork.

The animated, movable book had started for an adult audience, but shifted gears to appeal more to children during the 18th century (as is the history of much of "children's literature"). The featured artist, Vojtech Kubasta, was a Czech architect, artist, and children's book illustrator who revitalized the pop-up book movement in Europe in the mid twentieth century. I found it particularly interesting that:

Kubasta produced his complex, tightly integrated scenes with a minimalist’s touch. “What’s astounding about Kubasta, as opposed to many pop-up artists today working with multiple layers of paper, is that he achieved his effects using a single piece of paper,” Mr. Sabuda said. “That is the real magic of Kubasta. Look at one of his pop-ups from the side, and it looks like a staircase. The positive space is missing from the background, because it has been cut out, but you don’t notice it. The simplicity of it, from a paper engineer’s point of view, is simply amazing.”

 How that artwork integrates with the storytelling itself would be a worthy point of examination. If you are in New York any time until March 15th, you can see the gallery of his work at the Grolier Club:   JANUARY 23-MARCH 15, 2014: SECOND FLOOR GALLERY EXHIBITION, “Pop-Ups from Prague: A Centennial Celebration of the Graphic Artistry of Vojtech Kubašta (1914–1992) from the Collection of Ellen G. K. Rubin.” Open to the public free of charge Monday-Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.

On a similar note, this The Little Prince Pop-up is also worth checking out. I'm sure it would even make a nifty Valentine's Day present if you're so inclined...

Visual Stimulation -- Minimal and Visionary

I've come across some striking visuals in the past month or so that deserve some sharing. Whether offering new visions of firmly established children's literature or an entry point into the perspective of children themselves, these images can be delightful, unsettling, and provocative.

Firstly, The Unjournal of Children's Literature currently features the work of Christian Jackson, whose minimalist approach to children's stories remind the viewer of the emotion of certain elements in each story, while occasionally twisting our understanding of it as well, with provocative texture and muted but engaging colors. He has recently added a new collection of children's story-inspired works, including Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince, and Chicken Little. My favorite of this collection is Peter Pan, though.

 

The muddy green backdrop evokes the natural wildness of Neverland along with the greenness of youth. Golden granules of sand depict iconic fairy dust as well as the essence of time--a hidden, undisclosed source that offers ceaseless life with no boundaries. The dust pops from the background in a vivid combination that illustrates eternal youth. Pretty cool, in my opinion.

Continuing this exploration of minimalist renderings of stories, I came across a collection of animated, minimal-style gifs for each of the seven Harry Potter books. Graphic Artist Jeca Martinez takes on the same challenge as Jackson by transforming well-known children's stories into condensed images (her blog demonstrates a fascination with Disney film versions of many fairy tales too). Her Harry Potter renderings evoke a sense of the magic in the books themselves, but I wonder what the effect would be without the animation. I find it noteworthy that the classic versions of fairy tales lend themselves to a distanced kind of minimalism by Jackson (the color and textures feel much older in time, just like the stories themselves) whereas these contemporary stories are ensconced in an art more evocative of technology, from the animation, bright bold color, and sharp lines.

Finally, a mother collaborates with her daughter to create a synergized view of adults in a child's world. Artist Mica Angela Hendricks draws expressive faces and lets her 4-year-old daughter add life and limb to the heads. Mica adds color once her daughter is done, occasionally listening to her daughter's recommendations, to create wondrous visions that make one wonder exactly what it is children think, imagine, and feel.

You can read the artist's blog to discover the lessons learned from collaborating with her child. Ultimately, who is the real visionary here?

Art, Inspiration, and Adaptations

First, a brief announcement that the Museum trip with the ChildLit GSA has been cancelled, but if you want to check out the Maurice Sendak exhibit on your own, you have until April 28th! And if you do, feel free to share your experience and review of it.

In fact, there are always interesting exhibits and events going on all over the place, if you know where to look. Case in point, the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra has had some really intriguing exhibits in the past. It's always frustrating to learn about these after the fact, like the Tribute to Wizard of Oz collection; however, one can at least view the pieces and artwork online to get a taste of the exhibit. Their upcoming gallery exhibit, starting oh-so-coincidentally on May 4th, is "A Saga in the Stars: a Tribute to a Galaxy Far, Far Away," featuring artwork inspired by the Star Wars franchise. I wonder what this exhibit will have transformed into once Disney's own life force reincarnates the saga into a never-ending series?

Speaking of Disney, a short piece of Huffington Post today discusses the malleability of fairy tales in every generation, mentioning the domination of Disney in children's minds. Liesl Shurtliff writes, "Fairy tales have survived for generations, not just because of their symbolic nature, but because they are flexible. We can shift point-of-view, draw different conclusions, and even change the events of the tale to make them more meaningful to our current social, political, and moral points-of-view." What follows are a series of "successful" adaptations... Do you agree with the arguments for these adaptations? What would you include?

Cinderella In Pictures Through the Ages

I'm writing about Marissa Meyer's Cinder for my thesis, and I've been looking at the different iterations of Cinderella through the years. I love how various illustrations/images of Cinderella reflect the time period in which they were created. Check out this progression from the 1800s until today:

George Cruikshank (1792-1878)

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939)

Harry Clarke (1889-1931)

Walt Disney (Film: 1950)

The New Yorker (1993)

Dina Goldstein (2009)

And for giggles (and related to that last image), let's not forget Kristen Wiig's hilarious drunk Cinderella:

Finally, there is some wonderful fan art on the internet for Marissa Meyer's Cinder (2012), whose Cinderella character is a working-class cyborg mechanic with metal limbs. I'm especially fond of this image: