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You go to the museum. Stand in line for half an hour. Pay 20 bucks. And then, you’re there, looking at the exhibited artworks, but you get nothing out of it. You try hard. You read the little annoying labels next to the artworks. Even get the audio-guide. Still nothing. What do you do? Maybe you’re just not into this specific artist. Or maybe you’re not that into paintings in general. Or art.
StoryMakers host Rocco Staino caught up with Mo Willems at the preview for The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems, a retrospective of Willems’ work at the New-York Historical Society. The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems exhibit contains many pieces that show Willems’ process as he created some of kid lit’s most memorable characters. He hopes children create their own art after they leave the museum. The author and illustrator briefly discussed The Thank You Book, the 25th and last book in the Elephant and Piggie series.
Mo Willems has had a huge impact on the lives of children. As a television writer for Sesame Street he garnered six Emmys. His witty one-liners inspired children to quote characters from Codename: Kids Next Door amongst other familiar cartoons. In 2003 his first picture book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, was published and since then it’s been a stream of accolades; three Caldecott Honors, two Geisel Medals, five Geisel Honors, and a place in the Picture Book Hall of Fame.
Willems’ surly pigeon, the mismatched pair of Elephant and Piggie, and everyone’s favorite Knuffle Bunny are a few of the characters visitors will get to see evolve via the exhibit.
The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems exhibition brings together original art, sketches, and inspirational drawings from Willem’s most popular series, plus stand-alone classics such as Leonardo the Terrible Monster and That is NOT a Good Idea!. It displays the efforts behind the effortlessness, the seriousness behind the silliness, and the desire, as Willems says, “to think of my audience, not for my audience.” His ability to crisply weave together life lessons and humor creates artful volumes that speak to all, regardless of size.
The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems is open now, until September 25, 2016. Click here for ticket information, directions, and more.
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art organized the exhibition, which is supported by Disney Publishing Worldwide.
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ACTIVITIES
Click the images or links below to access fun activities with characters from Mo Willems’ books!
The Thank You Book Written and illustrated by Mo Willems (Disney-Hyperion, 2016)
Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can. Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to. Gerald and Piggie are best friends. In The Thank You Book!, Piggie wants to thank EVERYONE. But Gerald is worried Piggie will forget someone … someone important.
ABOUT MO WILLEMS
#1 New York Times Bestseller Mo Willems began his career as a writer and animator for PBS’ Sesame Street, where he garnered 6 Emmy Awards for his writing. During his nine seasons at Sesame Street, Mo also served as a weekly commentator for BBC Radio and created two animated series, Nickelodeon’s The Off-Beats and Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City.
While serving as head writer for Cartoon Network’s #1 rated show, Codename: Kids Next Door, Mo began writing and drawing books for children. His debut effort, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! became a New York Times Bestseller and was awarded a Caldecott Honor in 2004. The following year Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary Tale was awarded a Caldecott Honor. The sequel, Knuffle Bunny Too: a Case of Mistaken Identity garnered Mo his third Caldecott Honor in 2008.
In addition to picture books, Mo created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of “Easy Readers”, which were awarded the Theodor Suess Geisel Medal in 2008 and 2009 and Geisel Honors in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. For older audiences he has published an illustrated memoir of his year-long trip around the world in 1990-91 entitled You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons and Don’t Pigeonhole Me!, a collection of 20 years of his annual sketchbooks. His books have been translated into over 20 languages.
The New-York Historical Society, one of America’s pre-eminent cultural institutions, is dedicated to fostering research, presenting history and art exhibitions, and public programs that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, New-York Historical is the oldest museum in New York City. New-York Historical has a mission to explore the richly layered political, cultural and social history of New York City and State and the nation, and to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history.
New-York Historical is recognized for engaging the public with deeply researched and far-ranging exhibitions. Supporting these exhibitions and related education programs are one of the world’s greatest collections of historical artifacts, works of American art, and other materials documenting the history of the United States and New York.
The New-York Historical Society’s museum is the oldest in New York City and predates the founding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art by nearly seventy years.
The quiet corridors of great public museums have witnessed revolutionary breakthroughs in the understanding of the past, such as when scholars at the British Museum cracked the Rosetta Stone and no longer had to rely on classical writers to find out about ancient Egyptian civilisation. But museums’ quest for knowledge is today under strain, amid angry debates over who owns culture.
Are you planning a family painting day, an art scandal mystery event or turning your children’s room into an ancient Egyptian maze? Finding new ways for creative kid programs are just clicks away at your favorite museum.
You might be surprised by a new update, an added blog, or an interactive art activity.
I recently followed an alien through the MoMA, popped yellow and red balloons through the Met and discovered William the blue hippo from Egypt is not very friendly. (All of this online.) Be part of art history through interactive museum websites. The Smithsonian, J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery of Art are just a few amazing art websites filled with kids, family and teacher resources.
My new favorite art museum website to explore is #metkids at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. MET Kids is a new feature launched in September with multi-media content aimed at 7 to 12 year olds. The Met says kids from New York City and around the world “helped to shape the content, design, and user experience of the website. It is truly “Made for, with, and by kids.”
#metkids map photo by Paige Bentley-Flannery
Walk around the museum online with the Map, get in a Time Machine and travel to different centuries or watch a new art video made by kids today.
Map: touch a yellow or red balloon to learn about different art pieces. (The directions say yellow or red pin but every time I see them I think of the balloons from You Can’t Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman.) Learn about a sculpture, a new artist or a room by Frank Lloyd Wright. Have you seen the “Celestial Globe with Clock Work” from 1579?
Time Machine: Push the red “push” button to explore different time periods all around the world. “Program your destination to explore worlds of art.” From 8000-2000 BC to 1900-present, get in the time machine and discover, learn and create. Listen to an art curator talk about the selected piece or discover a “fun fact.” The time machine is filled with ideas and questions for children to think about.
Video: The videos are separated into four different sections-Create, Made by Kids, Q&A and Celebrate. Watch an original animation film about Degas’ dancer in “Made by Kids” and go behind the scenes in the animation lab. “Jumping into the Met” is filled with great ideas-connecting famous paintings with stories and film. Click on the “Create” section and follow step by step instructions to learn how to make scratch art, symmetrical prints, collage and more.
Please share your favorite museum website in the comments below.
For a selection of fun art books to use in your next museum program, explore my art shelf on shelfari.
Paige Bentley-Flannery is a Community Librarian at Deschutes Public Library. For over fifteen years–from Seattle Art Museum to the New York Public Library to the Deschutes Public Library-Paige’s passion and creative style for art, poetry and literature have been combined with instructing, planning, and providing information. Paige is currently serving on the ALSC Notable Children’s Book Committee, 2015 – 2017. She is a former Chair of the ALSC Digital Content Task Force and member of the ALSC Great Websites Committee.
If you've followed my work in the past, you may know that a favourite subject matter of mine is collections. I've drawn collections of keys, badges, matchboxes, pens, buttons and souvenirs to name but a few. I've drawn souvenirs of all kinds, like in the drawing above, which comes from an entire sketchbook of collection drawings. Well, recently I've been commissioned by Greater Manchester Museum Group to create four drawings based on their collections from four of their museums.
I'm so thrilled about getting this gig. I've always wanted to draw museums' collections. I used to dream that I'd get a job cataloguing them all. It would be my perfect job, but unfortunately photography happened and then computers and so the call for museum collection illustrators and cataloguers waned. But, anyway, now I have the opportunity. My problem is how do you make just one drawing from each museum?
Well, firstly we narrowed it down by choosing the four museums from Greater Manchester's 21 venues. The first was Stockport's Hat Works Museum which is the building in the picture above. I already knew of, and love, this place. In fact we did a sketchcrawl there just a few weeks ago. It contains everything you need to know about hat making and the most amazing hats. But, not only do I get to visit the museums, but I also got the opportunity of looking through their archives and storage. This has been such a privilege, rooting through the stores, holding history (and antique top hats) in my hands.
The second collection I'll be drawing is the Egyptology collection from Bolton Museum. They have an impressive collection of Egyptology artefacts. Unfortunately, I didn't get the best photos from that trip but I did get a sketch of a dinosaur before I left the building!
My third collection is from the natural History collections of Oldham Museum. I spent the best few hours with the curator, down in the cellar archives, surrounded by so many treasures of nature, whilst being educated on bugs and butterflies and birds nest. Actually, that too has been another joy and privilege of this whole experience, learning about, not just Natural History, the social history of this region and about the collectors. Learning from passionate people.
Again, I managed to sneak some sketching in before leaving the building. Well, what else do you do when waiting for the rain to stop?
Today was my final visit and final collection. For that I went to the Museum of the Manchester Regiment to view their medal collections. I wasn't quite prepared by how touching an experience that would be. I shed a tear or two reading the heart breaking stories of the soldiers who lost their lives.
So, that's what I'm working on right now. My drawings were commissioned by the Museum Group for a new online shop they are building, which is coming soon. Very soon. Which reminds me, I don't have time to sit here blogging, I've got (a lot of) work to do.....
Oh, and unbeknownst to me, and quite coincidentally, this is actually Museum Week 2015. So Happy #MuseumWeek one and all. Go visit a museum because museums are great places.
I'm a sucker for ABC books, and I'm a sucker for Maira Kalman's whimsical illustrations, and I'm a sucker for multi-genre nonfiction. What could I do? I had to buy this book.
Published by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, it is exactly what it says it is: "31 objects from the Cooper Hewitt..." Furthermore, we learn, "Maira Kalman went to the museum. She chose objects from the collection and made this book for you."
Don't expect a literal, one-to-one ABC. That's not Kalman's style. For instance, the dog on the cover is featured on the spread for E: "E. (Except for your dog) This is the cutest dog on Earth. With the cutest Eyebrows on Earth."
After Z comes O, for "Oops!" A letter was left out, but "Oh, well. We all make mistakes." After that, there are photographs of the actual objects with a bit of information about each (have fun counting and figuring out why there are more than 31 photographs), the story of how Nellie and Sally Hewitt came to collect these objects and create a museum, AND an invitation to readers to pay attention to the design of the objects in the world around them and then write to the museum with their suggestions for objects that might be included in a museum.
So. Much. Fun.
0 Comments on Maira Kalman's Ah-Ha to Zig-Zag as of 12/26/2014 6:08:00 AM
Oh joy... I get to hang in a museum! One of my book spreads was chosen to be in the upcoming exhibit at the 2014 SCBWI WWA Illustrator exhibit at the Washington State Historical Society. Now... all I need is a frame. It's a great museum, only I don't get down to Tacoma very often.
0 Comments on I get to hang in a museum! as of 9/30/2014 9:59:00 AM
I've decided to get back to using my blog as a means to chronicle and remember noteworthy happenings since it is not likely to be used for posting illustrations anytime soon. Though I may be taking a break from that side of my life, I am still spending my days doing things that keep my imagination going. This weekend's trip to NYC was certainly an extension of that. Knee-deep in my YA sci-fi book project, I've been listening to a plethora of science podcasts of late, including my favorite, StarTalk Radio, hosted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
Each time Neil introduces his show, he makes mention of being the director of the Hayden Planetarium---and after listening to dozens of shows (and thus dozens of intros) my already strong inclination to visit was catalysed into action. I've loved planetariums since I was a kid, and my best friend lives in Manhattan, so BAM. Finally made it happen. Adam and I arrived in the city Saturday afternoon, and planned our trip to the American Museum of Natural History for Sunday.
Yet Saturday was not without inspiring time of its own. Even just riding the commuter rail into the city gets my brain stirring. There's something deeply moving to me about watching the dilapidated buildings pass by on the train...especially when contrasted against the periodic splash of much nicer, upscale areas. The divide between wealth and poverty is a theme making its way into my story...so even an otherwise dull train ride became a useful piece of my weekend.
Saturday was lovely outside and included some walking around Central Park before getting dinner and heading to Broadway. We had tickets to see The Cripple of Inishmaan, a revival (and first time on Broadway) of Martin McDonagh's dark comedy featuring Daniel Radcliffe. The Gamm Theatre put on The Beauty Queen of Leenane just last season and I loved it, so I was primed for another McDonagh play - especially given the chance to also see Mr. Radcliffe's return to Broadway after missing him in How to Succeed.
Our seats were up pretty high in the balcony section so while they didn't offer up close views of the actors, it was still a great view of the stage. The set was beautiful and absolutely deserving of its recent Tony nomination. From our seats, we viewed the set at an almost isometric perspective, which made me appreciate the triangular, rotating stage piece even more. The play itself was quite funny with darker moments of sadness you'd expect from Martin McDonagh. What I hadn't anticipated was the overall sweetness the play would have. It was a crowd pleaser...less controversial perhaps than some of his other plays, and I have to admit I appreciated the moments of tenderness and humor.
Theater is quickly becoming another favorite form of storytelling. It's magical and bizarre and quite wonderful to watch a story unfold live before your eyes...your imagination carried away by actors becoming their characters, sets becoming a new place you've never been to, and the smallest of lighting cues creating an entirely different atmosphere, be it inside a village shop bathed in the beautiful golden glow of morning, or a bluish moonlit night by the sea. I'm always so charmed by the mileage simple theatrics get with such minimalism.
And I know Dan Radcliffe is the money-making draw for the show, but ALL the actors were excellent and well-worth attending for in their own right (I loved the aunties in particular). A great show. I really enjoyed it.
....now on to Sunday!
I've never been to the American Museum of Natural History before and was super impressed with the place. It's huge! We barely dipped our toes in the wealth of information there. Admittedly I was mostly there to see the planetarium show,Dark Universe, and to check out the fossils and dinosaurs (Adam's favorite). I LOVE PLANETARIUMS. Did I mention that already? Because I seriously LOVE planetariums. I wish I could sit in there all day long, day after day, watching every show they've made in the last few years on repeat. Because how can you not be blown away with how far our technology has come to allowing us to visualize and communicate this kind of information in such an accessible, inspiring way?! Dark Universe succeed at precisely that. Seeing the idea of red shift/universe expansion was awesome. Visualizing dark matter was fascinating. Thanks to pieces like this and the updated Cosmos series, my appreciation for science communicators and visualizers has multiplied exponentially.
Man, I LOVE PLANETARIUMS. Its like being on a rocket ship roller coaster ride through the universe. I can't get enough. Certainly not in only 25 minutes. But I guess that just means I'll be coming back again!
We were able to spend a bit of time breezing through other areas but truthfully we'd need to really take more time in each exhibit in order to not feel overwhelmed. Fortunately we did see the blue whale room, which was SO COOL. My husband and I had a fascination and appreciation for the dioramas that border the room. They were beautifully painted, sculpted, executed, what have you. An amazing example of many separate creative processes coming together for stunning results. I don't know who makes those things, but I'm sure glad they do.
It's funny to me...being at a museum. There's so much information inside, yet there are so many limitations to realistically appreciating and absorbing that knowledge. First of all, just walking around a place so large is exhausting. You start thinking about how much your feet hurt and less about what you're experiencing. Then before you know it you have to pee (so you waste time hunting for a bathroom). Or you get hungry so you have to stop to snack. Most of us breeze through museums without even scratching the surface. And from what I saw, if you bring kids, it's even worse. They don't have the attention span to read the information, they just want to run around, pressing buttons on exhibits or spinning the things that spin or turning the things that turn. I found myself imagining us museum visitors as aliens on planet Zorba, visiting the Museum of Zorban History...mommy and daddy aliens lugging around cumbersome strollers while kids whined about being bored. Here is an amazing place, a vast wealth of information cultivated by centuries worth of Zorban intellect and discovery. And yet there we are, modern day Zorban idiots staring thoughtlessly at the exhibits, wondering if they sell dehydrated astronaut ice cream in the museum gift shop (neapolitan, not that ice cream sandwich crap).
There are so many chances for us normal (aka not super intellectual) humans (or Zorbans) to learn new things that I find it deeply tragic how pedestrian we can be...
* * * * * * * * * * I think the best part of this past year has been reconnecting to my own curiosity. It's not so much that I stopped being a curious person, it's just that I suffered from a fear of information overload. Let's face it: there's a lot about everything that I don't understand. Old me tried to hide from that fact so I didn't have to think about how ignorant and stupid I am. But new me embraces the idea that there is so much out there to learn. Even if the majority of it goes well above my head, it still seems like the only quest worth taking. I've always had a deeply rooted fear and fascination with space in particular --seeing Apollo 13, trips to air shows, and the Air & Space Museum as a kid enhanced a natural attraction to the topic. It's always been in the back of my head as a subject area. But for the last 20 years or so it hasn't had a way to come back into my life. Now age 29, I have the luxury of time and freedom to learn (at my own pace) about areas that truly get down deep and move me. Space and space exploration seem like the only things that matter in some ways... I get sad thinking that within my lifetime we may not make as much progress as I would like to see---certainly not as much as I thought we'd make when I was a child. I hope big things do happen. I hope big answers are pursued, and I hope we get some amazing returns on our investments. Even if I'm just a nobody artist/writer with no scientific background, I can appreciate what space means to me as a human being. I may never be an astronaut or a scientist or an engineer, but that doesn't mean I can't live vicariously and reap the rewards of the people who are out there doing amazing things---and adding to the wealth of knowledge for which all humans can be grateful.
0 Comments on NYC WEEKEND as of 5/20/2014 3:00:00 AM
Every decade or so, there is talk of an animation museum in the United States, and while none has ever been built, two new museums on the horizon promise to be a pretty big deal for the film and animation communities.
The Lucas Cultural Arts Museum and the Academy Museum will hopefully be two huge steps forward in the preservation and public education of filmmaking. These forthcoming institutions also serve as a reminder that film museums present a set of wholly unique challenges for the curators, designers and developers involved.
To see the world’s most famous paintings and sculptures, you have to go to a museum. The world’s most famous films, however, can be seen at a movie theater. Therefore, any film or animation museum has to offer a richer experience that brings the audience closer to the filmmaking process. In doing this, five major challenges—aside from financial ones—arise for the film museum.
1. Exhibiting the Filmmaking Process
When was the last time you heard of a museum exhibition on the making of the Mona Lisa? Or Michelangelo’s David? The processes behind the most famous paintings, drawings or sculptures are rarely revealed in museums. The curators, in fact, function under the assumption that patrons have a general understanding of how to paint and sculpt. A film, on the other hand, is created through the joint effort of hundreds of people, each with a specific job that isn’t necessarily understood by the general public. Directors, prop masters, animators, costumers, layout artists, grips—all of these roles must be defined by a film museum in such a way that anyone, from a child to an adult, could understand. This requires infinite amounts of primary research from curators, while producing a huge headache for exhibition designers.
It’s not as simple as hanging a few character model sheets onto a wall—film museums have to explain the jobs of character designers and visual development artists, and how they contribute to the final product. This explanation usually involves text, supporting photographs and film clips displayed on monitors. Creating this educational experience is worthwhile, but demands careful planning and coordination.
2. Ephemera
The products that result from making movies—costumes, props, masks, storyboards, paints, sketches, scripts—are not made to last. They are only made to survive the time it takes to produce the final cut of the film. If these objects even survive, which is often thanks to a sentimental crew member, they present major conservation challenges that are sometimes impossible to overcome. Background sketches, for example, are often created on newsprint, a non-archival paper that quickly yellows with time. Old reels of 35mm film are at risk of fading, molding or even catching fire. Yoda, a 30-year-old animatronic puppet, is notoriously known as the ultimate conservator’s nightmare. His latex body practically melts with time, degrading further with each instance he is moved from storage to display. With film ephemera, there isn’t much conservators can do besides wear white gloves, use temperature-controlled storage, and try their best to stave off deterioration.
3. Programming
The majority of museums dedicated to film have screening rooms, therefore they need thoughtful, exciting programming that pulls in a wide range of audiences. Typically, this is where animation gets the shaft; if shown, animation is often billed as a daytime family-oriented event. It is paramount for these museums to have the foresight of an adept curator who knows how to balance rare, niche screenings with crowd pleasers.
4. Going Digital
While leaving a film to deteriorate on 35mm stock is obviously a bad idea, digital transfers are temporary fixes. Discs, USB keys, and any device that stores data are ultimately not stable, at least not by a curation standard. As more filmmakers produce digital work, museums will struggle with concerns over proper storage and care. This is a universal problem at the moment, affecting any institution that collects digital formats. Fortunately, there are whole college majors devoted to the study and development of best practices for digital archiving.
5. Myth
It’s hard to imagine any visual art that must contend with as big of a unified myth as film. The lore of Hollywood is irrevocably intertwined with film, a relationship that affects the design and architecture of the museum itself. The Academy Museum, for example, is building a multimedia exhibition that lets visitors “walk the red carpet.” While any film museum, especially one based in Los Angeles with connected donors, must pay homage to Hollywood, it’s easy for these institutions to get bogged down in all the related tropes: red velvet curtains, wall sconces that look like film reels, potted palm trees, and vintage movie signs. All these symbols are iconic and recognized by a mass audience, but museums have to know when to put on the brakes and let the art of filmmaking, not the nostalgia surrounding it, speak for itself.
Images in this post:
Proposed rendering of the Academy Museum
UPA Exhibit at MoMA, 1955
Walt Disney Family Museum, permanent collection
Barry McGee Show at Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 2013 (photo by Greg Cook)
"Found by former project staff in the James Johnson Sweeney general correspondence, these drawings have been tagged as 'adorable.' If you have any information on the artist, email [email protected]."
—Francine Snyder, Director of Library and Archives
0 Comments on "Sometimes items in the archives have little or no identifying information." as of 3/12/2013 3:22:00 PM
Bill Traylor draws on a street corner in a scene from “It Jes’ Happened”
Bill Traylor’s story is the stuff of legend: he was born into slavery in Alabama, lived most of his life as a sharecropper, and started drawing at the age of eighty-five, while living homeless in Montgomery, Alabama. His drawings once decorated a street corner; now he’s known as one of America’s most important folk artists.
You can learn more about Traylor’s life story in our picture book biography, It Jes’ Happened, but there’s nothing like seeing Traylor’s artwork in person. Most of it is concentrated at a few museums in the southeast, but luckily, right now there’s a traveling exhibition making its way around the US with over 60 of Traylor’s works. The paintings, borrowed from permanent collections at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, represent some of the best examples of Traylor’s unique folk art style. Here’s where the exhibit will be:
“Blue Man With Umbrella,” a piece of Traylor’s artwork
Other national venues will be announced soon, so keep an eye on art museums near you to see if Traylor’s exhibit will be visiting your area. Meanwhile, you can find some of Traylor’s artwork in permanent collections at the following museums:
The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
The Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
The Museum of American Folk Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC
I actually did this two months ago... but I do 3 - 4 abstracts a month. I start out making the shapes in Illustrator and then move to Photoshop. I'll post more soon.
0 Comments on New Abstract... "Heart of the country" as of 1/1/1900
by Gregory Rogers
Allen & Unwin, Austrailia 2009
Roaring Brook, US 2012
The Boy, who previously met the Bard and the Bear and battled a Midsummer Knight, takes "readers" on another adventure, this time through the world of Vermeer.
The Boy, out titular hero, is kicking around when a soccer ball appears. One swift kick and the ball lands in a fountain, and the bully boys who were previously
0 Comments on The Hero of Little Street as of 1/1/1900
I'm a huge animal fan and love writing aboutthem, so when Puffin commissioned me to write a book set in World War IIabout three animal heroes, I was delighted. The Great Escape started off as just the working title but ended up being the final one.
The animalcharacters in the book are two dogs and a cat, plus some heroic homing pigeons,and it was really important to me that I got these animal characters right.Fortunately, I've got a friend who has six rescue collies (one of them was justleft tied to her garden gate late at night and she found him there in themorning). They became the inspiration for Rose in the book. My neighbour’s cat, who I fed while they were on holiday, helped with my research for Tiger. I usually meet two feisty Jack Russells when I'm walking my own dogs down by the river (my two are huge compared to them but the little dogs usually tell my two off!) One of them getting stuck down afox-hole and needing to be rescued by the local fire-brigade helped me bring the impish Buster to life.
This is theonly story I've written that I needed to do some historical research for, and Iloved visiting the museums and chatting to the people at Twinwoods Airfield, home of the annual Glenn Miller Festival, where I found out about Mosquitoes and Spitfires and Blenheim planes. I neverrealized how cold it was inside a World War II plane, or how cramped, or how vital homingpigeons were, until then.
My favouritepart of the research was when I got to take my own dogs Traffy and Bella on a steam trainlike the pets in the book do. Traffy and Bella liked looking out of the windowvery much but they liked it even more when the train stopped and they got toplay on the beach.
Thanks - it's so funny isn't it? Just been asked to recommend my favourite books set during wars and added it to the blog post so thought I'd let you know. Lots of reading to do!
This is a lovely post and great shots of your dogs. Last year I was given an Animal Aid poppy, as I also love animals. (www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/living//2256//) it remembers all the animals who have died for and during war. I wore it along side my red poppy and will do so again this year.
About setting, about character, and even about plot.
Beloved Children’s Author Gives Advice to Parents of Budding Architects
National Building Museum Online sat down with Isabel to discuss her work and her advice for the parents of budding architects.
National Building Museum Online (NBM Online): As an urban planner and architectural historian, what motivated you to create books for young children?
Isabel Hill: Quite honestly, I was inspired to write my first children's book, Urban Animals, by my own daughter, Anna. When Anna was younger we used to take walks in Brooklyn where we live and I would always point out architectural details. One day, as we were wandering around our own neighborhood, I stopped to point out an interesting floral detail on a building and Anna interrupted me saying, "Mama, there is a dog on that building!" So my wonderfully-observant 5-year old daughter gave me the idea to create books for young children about architecture.
NBM Online: What was the inspiration behind your latest book, Building Stories?
Isabel Hill: For many years I worked as an urban planner in an old industrial neighborhood in New York. I walked by a building with spectacular, yellow, terra-cotta pencils on the outside and just had to find out why they were there. I researched the building and discovered that it was the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory, famous for making those yellow, Number Two pencils that were used for generations all across America. Fast forward to two years ago: as I began to brainstorm about a second children’s book on architecture, the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Building came to mind and inspired the book.
NBM Online: In Building Stories you look at the details of a building as being the characters, plot, and setting of a story. Have you always thought of buildings in this way?
Isabel Hill: No, this was a new concept for me but I think it works extremely well. Buildings do have stories and, when you think about it, what goes on inside can be mysterious as well as educational. Sometimes a building can have many plots and characters depending on what goes on inside and who is involved with the building.
NBM Online: What advice do you have for the young readers who enjoy your books?
Isabel Hill: I am so excited about these books and want them to be the catalyst for walking around one’s own neighborhood and observing all the interesting architecture that surrounds us. My advice would be to go out, walk the streets, take the books as your guides, but find your own architectural treasures. Photograph them, draw them, write about them, and share what you find with other children and adults.
NBM Online: What advice do you have for parents of budding architects?
Isabel Hill: I think it’s great for parents to read the books out loud, to help their children tackle some of the harder words, and to ask their children what they see in the books that relates to what they see in their own neighborhoods.
NBM Online: As an architectural photographer, what is your favorite city to photograph?
Isabel Hill: I must admit I love the city I now call home—New York—because it is so vast and has so many different kinds of buildings, architectural styles, and fantastic details. But Washington, D.C. is the place I used to call home, and I have a huge affection for the beautiful choreography of scale, m
0 Comments on BUILDING STORIES by ISABEL HILL as of 1/1/1900
On October 21st, The Wende Museum and Archives of the Cold War in Los Angeles launched my middle grade novel Breaking Stalin’s Nose. The program included an opening of the exhibition of drawings I made for the book and a staged reading.
Breaking Stalin’s Nose is a middle grade novel about a young man’s unveiling of truth in Stalinist Russia, while the Wende Museum is dedicated to history of Cold War-era Eastern Europe, and as such I couldn’t have hoped for a more appropriate context for the book’s launch. At the museum, an enormous collection of the Cold War artifacts is displayed in the upstairs rooms and housed in a gigantic ground level vault. Some of the museum’s artifacts including the Soviet Pioneers memorabilia and a porcelain bust of Stalin were displayed along with the drawings exhibition.
However, the highlight of the evening was a staged reading by a cast of remarkable actors. Elya Baskin, who played every evil Russian in every Hollywood blockbuster from Transformers to Austin Powers, read for Stalin in one chapter and for Stalin’s Nose in another. Brenda Wehle, a renowned stage actresswho began her career at the famous Guthrie Theatre Company in Minneapolis and went on to play many memorable roles on and off-Brodway read for the schoolteacher Nina Petrovna, and in the last chapter, for a woman waiting to visit her son in the Lubyanka prison. Young Bryce Robinson read for the hero of the book Sasha Zaichik. Brycebegan his career at age six, impressing the viewers with his performance in television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Monk, October Road, Dexter, and movies -- Marley & Me, Valentine’s Day, and The Switch. And lastly, Timur Bekbosunov, a Kazakh-American opera tenor known for his solo appearances with the LA Philarmonic, American Repertory Theater, Opera Boston as well as performances with his band the Dime Museum sang Stalinist songs mentioned in the book.
We read six chapters from the book. This is how we began.
Phase two of my holidays is goin' exactly as planned. =D
The week has been awesome and busy and fun. The hubby had a blast on a camping trip with his bro, and I spent time with my amazin' daughter and some really great friends.
My daughter and I always have so much fun together, she's as crazy as I am. We spent one day mall shopping, visiting the best store on the planet; 'Teaopia' - we spent as much time in there as we did in the rest of the mall!
The next day was a museum day at the Manitoba Museum, Planetarium and Science Gallery.
In the MB Museum we hung out in a bat cave; played eye-spy in exhibits; swam with the tall ship Nonsuch; got freaked out in the creepy town when we realized we were the only people left in the museum cuz it was after hours and closing (you do NOT wanna get locked-in overnight in a museum!). (O_o) Just sayin'.
We saw a Beatles laser show at the Planetarium - a first for both of us. Good tunes, dry ice and dancing lights - awesome!
The science gallery is filled with these crazy cool things like an anti-gravity machine, a meteorite you can touch, pulley chairs, sound wave dishes, you can even build lil Kinex cars and race them! So much fun!
I spent the next day at Starbucks with my friend Sammy, catching up and talkin' shop (writin' stuff). =) She is one smart lady and a fantastic writer. She always gets me psyched to write.
Yesterday, I went poolside with my buddy Valerie and my daughter. Nothin' like hours of warm weather, great conversation and yummy goodies. Valerie has even begun to write! You go girl!
I'm still on holidays until Tuesday and I plan to make the most outta every minute! Woot woot!
For my writing exercise, I woke up yesterday morning with this first line, 'I am trapped by the darkness of my soul', running thru my head and it inspired the following poem:
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4 Comments on Researching The Great Escape by Megan Rix, last added: 4/3/2012
That's a wonderful picture of your dogs tangoing on the strand!
Thanks - it's so funny isn't it?
Just been asked to recommend my favourite books set during wars and added it to the blog post so thought I'd let you know. Lots of reading to do!
This is a lovely post and great shots of your dogs. Last year I was given an Animal Aid poppy, as I also love animals. (www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/living//2256//) it remembers all the animals who have died for and during war. I wore it along side my red poppy and will do so again this year.
Oh my - thanks for that link Lynne just glanced at it but now going back to read it properly. Definitely going to order an Animal Aid poppy.