art

Cool Cat

| Tasha

Cool Cat by Nonny Hogrogian

This wordless picture book is a strong voice for creativity and change.  Cat is in a desolate landscape, filled with dead grass, broken glass, and rusting cans.  It is a brown, barren place.  But Cat has brought his paints!  He starts in a corner with some green leaves, then moves to the sky and turns it from brown to blue.  Mouse and Rabbit join him, adding touches of bright red berries.  A cardinal sweeps in to finish the sky, while trees, rocks and even a pond are added.  Soon the birds are perching on the tree branches, a duck is paddling in the pond, and the painting becomes real.

Hogrogian’s paintings have a softness that really works for this blurring of reality and art.  The muddy brown of the original landscape speaks volumes all in itself.  Then with juxtaposed with the brightness of green, red and yellow it becomes a dreadful ugliness.  Children will enjoy the different animals that help out with the art.  This is a testament to shared art and murals.  But at a deeper level, it is a book about how art transforms and how each of us can make change in our own worlds.

A great art book for very small children, this book can be shared at different levels.  Toddlers will enjoy the animals and the colors while older children will see the change and wonder.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Secret World of Walter Anderson

| Tasha

The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass, illustrated by E. B. Lewis.

This picture book biography offers such a strong portrait of American master Walter Anderson that readers will find themselves transported to a different place and viewing things from a new perspective.  Readers follow Anderson on his twelve mile journey to Horn Island, long and solitary row from the mainland.  Though there were no people on the island, Anderson had companions in the animals that lived there.  He kept a journal of his time on the island and of course created art while he was there for weeks at a time.  After presenting Anderson’s unique way of working, the book builds tension about what is in Anderson’s locked room.  The beauty of the reveal after his death is captivating.  This is a true celebration of an artist as author and illustrator embrace his work and life.

The book opens with three strong lines that I found entirely engaging:

There once was a man whose love of nature was as wide as the world.

There once was an artist who needed to paint as much as he needed to breathe.

There once was an islander who lived in a cottage at the edge of the Mississippi, where the sea meets the earth and the sky.

Turning the page, readers will see Anderson climbing a tree to reach a nest and out in the water up to his shoulders to get close to another subject.  Bass’ text draws us into Anderson’s perspective, joyously depicting the barren island and its animal inhabitants and deeply accepting his choices and lifestyle.  Lewis’ watercolor illustrations focus on Anderson himself in his chosen environment.  The various aspects of the island are shown in all of their colors, changing light, and beauty. 

At the end of the book, there is more detailed information about Walter Anderson, his artistic family, and the effect of Hurricane Katrina on their family homes and studios.  Readers of all ages will want to look at the photographs of Anderson’s work.  Make sure to turn all the way to the back for a photograph of that locked room.  Amazing!  There is also a nice bibliography for further reading.

This is a beautiful example of a picture book biography.  Highly recommended for art classes and to expand for children the role and work of an artist. Appropriate for ages 8-12.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Check out another review at Chasing Ray.

Nonfiction Monday – An Eye for Color: the Story of Josef Albers

| Tasha

An Eye for Color: the Story of Josef Albers by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Julia Breckenreid.

Josef Albers was born in Germany where he saw art everywhere including in the doors his father painted.  As he grew up, he worked with collage and different medium in his art.  When he traveled to Mexico, he found inspiration everywhere.  He began painting rectangles and noticing how colors changed depending on what is around them.  He set out to study color itself and eventually wrote a book, Interaction of Color.  Albers’ colorful squares play a major role in modern art, and readers of this book will understand his importance.

Wing has summed up Albers’ life in a way that is fascinating and very child-friendly.  Her language is simple while the concepts are large.  She has managed to convey facts of his life alongside the wonder of his discoveries.  I especially appreciate the portion of the book where she looks at color specifically, just as Albers does.  Breckenreid’s art pays homage to Albers with its playful use of color and strong use of shape.  She evokes Albers on every page.

Highly recommended for art classrooms but also as an accessible biography for children. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt.

Check out Natasha Wing’s blog!

Max and the Dumb Flower Picture

| Tasha

Max and the Dumb Flower Picture by Martha Alexander with James Rumford.

This is Martha Alexander’s last book.  You have probably read some of her books, but to jar your memory she did the Blackboard Bear series.  This final book was completed from her unfinished manuscript and sketches by James Rumford. 

Max’s teacher Miss Tilley wants the class to color a picture of a rose for Mother’s Day.  Each child is given a sheet with the same rose copied on it, but Max knows that his mom would not want that for a present.  So Max refuses to color the sheet and runs from the room, hiding behind the bushes to create his own flower for his mother.  Everyone looks for Max, even the police, and when he is found he shows everyone his flower.  All of the children are inspired to create one of their very own, unique from everyone else’s.  Make sure to take time to look at the end pages filled with flowers drawn by Martha Alexander’s friends and family.

A simple story, well told and inspiring, this book will remind everyone that you don’t have to stay in the lines, don’t have to color a red rose like everyone else, and can create your own art and beauty.  Along the way, children who are happy to create their own art, stop.  They start following our rules, losing their creativity.  Suddenly skies are no longer orange and pink, cows are not purple, and clouds a fluffy in front of a corner sun.  This book is a small step towards fixing that and giving children back their own voice, odd, unusual and colorful.

I can see using this with adults working on creativity.  It reinforces that there is no right or wrong answer when being creative and expressive.  It is also a wonderful book for children who are just beginning to feel the pressure to stay in the lines.  Let’s all wander outside those lines and celebrate it!  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

The Imaginary Garden

| Tasha

The Imaginary Garden by Andrew Larsen and Irene Luxbacher

When Poppa moves into an apartment, he leaves behind his big glorious garden.  But Theo comes up with the idea of them having an imaginary garden instead of a real one.  That way it will fit on his small balcony with ease.  Poppa purchases a large canvas for them to paint on and a pair of matching gardening hats too. The two build the imaginary garden in the same way gardeners really do.  They start with a wall, the blue sky and the rich earth.  From there, they follow the seasons with crocuses and scilla starting out in spring.  But Poppa must leave on holiday just when it is time to paint the newly blooming tulips and daffodils. Will Theo be able to handle the imaginary garden on her own?

This book works on so many levels.  The writing and art are clever and inviting.  Theo and Poppa’s relationship is genuine and winning with no saccharine contrivances.  The use of art to dream, immerse one’s self, and create connections is done with a skillful hand and never becomes didactic. 

Perfection for young art students, grandparents, and for a spring story time.   This one is appropriate for ages 3-5 and grandmas and grandpas too.

A Map of the Known World

| Tasha

A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell

Cora is starting high school, the high school where her dead older brother, Nate, was known as a screw-up and a waster.  He died several months ago in a car accident, driving without the headlights on.  Now her life is marked by his loss.  Her mother is hovering, critical and verging on hysterical while her father drinks away his feelings alone and isolated in his den.  Cora escapes from their chaotic life through her art, drawing places on the map and dreaming of actually being there.  In high school she is in an advanced art class where she meets Damian, Nate’s best friend and the boy who walked away from the fatal crash.  Damian is the focus of Cora’s parents’ anger, but as Cora gets to know him, she learns more about her brother and finds connections with him that she hadn’t known existed.

Sandell’s writing is quite simply amazing.  From the first page, I was thoroughly hooked as she drew me into Cora’s life with poetic grace and unobtrusive style.  She writes with a confidence and ease that carries the reader along, sure that there is something worthwhile to discover here.  The dialogue is pitch perfect, including the hurtful, hateful fights with her parents that are so raw that the reader almost bleeds.  The use of art as a connecting and bridging force is also well done.  Not overly played upon, but important and soulful.  Cora is a girl worth spending time with, her character deep and fascinating.

Highly recommended, this book is beautiful, tense, haunting and glorious all in the same breath.  Simply amazing.  Appropriate for ages 13-15.