beautiful book week: maira kalman

Who doesn't love Maira Kalman?

She lives at the intersection of my three loves: children's books, writing, and design.

She has designed fabric for Isaac Mizrahi, accessories for Kate Spade, sets for the Mark Morris Dance Company and accessories for the Museum of Modern Art.

My boys love her books What Pete Ate from A to Z and Smartypants (Pete in School).

My sister and I have always love-loved the Max books: Max Makes a Million, Ooh-la-la (Max in Love), Max in Hollywood, Baby!, and Swami on Rye: Max in India.

The first three of these were bundled together into the fabulous, now out-of-print Max Deluxe (still available used from Amazon resellers).

Kalman's children's books are so densely illustrated that you can find new jokes in them every time you read them. The Max books especially have dense text as well; the Pete books are easier readers but still have a lot of free humor on the side. We absolutely love these books.

As I am a writer and began work as a copyeditor when I was still in college, I died and went to heaven when Maira Kalman illustrated the famous Elements of Style.

The hardcover book is so beautifully designed, with its front and back covers, inside hello and goodbye, and Kalman's ingenious illustrations, I can hardly bear to use it.

Luckily for me, they have now come out with a paperback version with a wonderful cover ... now I just need a reading copy and another to save.

(I can't help fantasizing that Kalman will illustrate all my reference books. My Fowler's. My Roget's.)

Artist-illustrator-designer Kalman also writes a column, "The Principles of Uncertainty", which appears in the New York Times.

The first dozen columns have been published in an eponymous book.

beautiful book week: home

I had to participate in Abby's Beautiful Book Week. I am an unrepentant bibliophile. My only problem was, which books to share?

I thought I'd start with a book that I think is much less known than other shelter/design works, Chris Madden's A Room of Her Own: Women's Personal Spaces. It shares the personal spaces of a number of very different women, from a nun (wonderful) to Oprah (only really wrong note in the book), including artists and writers.

I own a lot of design books, but this is one that I have gone back to several times and it always energizes me to work a little harder on my personal space, something that is very important to me. I truly do believe that what women want most is a room of their own, and a little time to work there.

Some quotes:

"My private space is my home and my land. Here is where I hold the presence of the unknown --- its light, its sweetness, its calm, its mystery, and its ability to nourish and free us." -- Carol Anthony, artist

"The older I get, the more I value my time alone --- creativity is more cerebral than active." -- Glenna Goodacre, sculptor

"I have various personal spaces and each carries a different energy that I need for my head and my heart. I don't know how we would survive without personal sanctuaries. We have our souls to care for, after all!" -- Elaine Anthony, artist

I will share some different books each day this week. Thank you for the inspiration, Abby!

armatures

Jack said today that he wanted to work on his bird project -- this is a project that has lasted for months, and every time I think it is over, he says emphatically he's not done yet. This reminds me of the preschool students who would work almost an entire year on a single topic (which, of course, they would explore to an amazing depth and breadth) then return in the fall for a new school year, cheerfully asking to resume study of the exact same topic.

These kids and their short attention spans.

Jack is so project-oriented, I think he will forever think of this continuing interest in birds as a "project" rather than, say, a hobby. On summer vacation he brought along his bird books, his bird list, and his binoculars, and asked to buy new bird books (Western states, you know) and bird identification sheets "for homeschooling". He offhandedly informs us of random bird facts and identifies birds on the wing, looking off skyward and shrugging modestly. And whenever he spots a flash of color in the yard, he dashes off for the binoculars again. It continues.

Today he said he was going to make a model of a bird, a goldfinch he believes, although he'll be making it larger than life-size, "so you can see all the details."

After some interesting discussion of possible materials he could use, he decided to try paper maché. He wanted to dive right in, but I helped him pull out a bunch of things and then suggested he make something else first. "Something else?!" But he was amenable, and proceeded to spend a good part of the morning making a "muscle man", with a lot of extra taping and giggling.

Children need some time to just mess about and play with materials before they use them purposefully. By exploring what he could do with the paper, tape, and wire I gave him, he gained a lot of knowledge about the materials and their properties, their limitations. I'll encourage him to do more free exploration tomorrow. When he feels confident manipulating the materials, then he will be able to confidently approach solving his problem of how to model the goldfinch.

Play for young children is not recreation activity,... It is not leisure-time activity nor escape activity.... Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of-ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met. --- James L. Hymes, Jr.

comics project: questions

J wants to talk with a real cartoonist. He is making a list of questions to ask him or her.

He is very interested in the work of being a cartoonist.

Another new development: because of Snoopy's novel writing ("It was a dark and stormy night..."), J has requested a typewriter to write stories.

a little more eric carle

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art uses a Reggio-inspired approach in their art studio programs.

Based on the ateliers of Reggio Emilia, programs in the Art Studio feature a variety of materials and techniques in order to promote the process of “thinking” with our hands, eyes, and sensibilities, as well as our brains. By using one’s visual language as a means of inquiry and investigation of the world, the cognitive and expressive processes are joined in the development of knowledge. Whether through the drop-in Public Art Program available to all visitors whenever the Museum is open, the group programs which include a gallery and studio component, or the many workshops and classes offered by teaching artists, we are guided by the belief that encounters with materials teach us about ourselves, heighten our awareness of the world around us, and promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of the visual arts.

Eric Carle also has a separate website, which includes an FAQ that might be interesting to children who enjoy his work. At the bottom of the same page are links to download Eric's "occasional newsletter", the Caterpillar Express.

book review: artist to artist

I ordered this beautiful and inspiring book because it fit so nicely with J's project on cartooning and comics. He has loved reading books that contained interviews with his favorite cartoonists, and this seemed like a lovely continuation of artists talking about their work.

This book is published by and benefits the Eric Carle Museum, which has a few lovely activities for kids at their website. I would love to visit the museum in person someday; I love Eric Carle's work.

Each illustrator (some of whom are author/illustrators) tells a little about how they came to be an artist and give some encouragement or advice to the young artists reading the book. There are pictures of their studios and showing the process of how their work progresses from sketches to finished products. Finally, they have self-portraits done in their signature style.

Forget about the kids, *I* loved and was very inspired by this book! It makes a lovely read. Look for it at your library, or think about giving it as a special gift (maybe with a pad of nice paper and some colored pencils) to your favorite young artist.

(If one of your children is five years old right now, you might want to look at the Eric Carle Museum's Big Book of Five request for submissions.)