COLORFUL DOVES: Children’s Art at the Astrup Fearnley Art Museum, Oslo, Norway

Decorated doves in the children's art room at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo.

On our recent trip to Norway, we visited the AstrupFearnley Art Museum in Oslo where we discovered that in additional to displaying contemporary art in the galleries, there was a room dedicated to creating art with children. A sign on the wall said that classes are held on the weekends. Families are invited to drop in every Sunday from 12 to 4.Visitors are welcome to participate in various creative activities inspired by works in the current exhibitions. The Rasmus Club for 5-12 years old is a free art club for children that meets two Saturdays a month. The participants explore contemporary art through conversations and creative workshops.

Our visit was on a weekday so no one was there. But the room was filled with wonderful projects the children had made. Hanging from the ceiling were colorful doves decorated with feathers, beads, yarn and other materials. Each one was unique. Clearly, the children had enjoyed making these colorful doves of peace.

The galleries of the Astrup Fearnley art museum are on both sides of the water.

ILLUSTRATIONS FROM A DAY AND NIGHT IN THE DESERT, at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA

At the Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA.

 I have just returned from the Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival, four days of celebrating books and reading. Events include author visits to schools throughout Humboldt County, book signing at the Humboldt County Library in Eureka, California, a dinner and banquet with community members, and an exhibit of children’s book illustrations by participating author/illustrators at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. Two of my cut-paper illustrations from my book A Day and Night in the Desert are part of the exhibit. The art, on display in the downstairs youth art section, will remain up through the end of October and possibly through the end of November. With many thanks to Lucy Quimby on the Festival Committee, and Jemima Harr at the Morris Graves Museum of Art. I am pleased to have the opportunity to share my work as part of the Author Festival.

For more about the Festival, see my post at this blog for October 26, 2022.

In front of the Morris Graves Museum.

 

 

OGE MORA: Keynote Speaker at the CLCSC 2021 Virtual Fall Gala

Oge Mora, Caldecott Winner for Thank You Omu

In an ordinary year, the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California would be celebrating children’s books at their annual Fall Gala, with delicious food, a keynote speaker, and awards to authors, illustrators, and people with distinguished service in the field of children’s literature. But this year, as in the fall of 2020, the Fall Gala was virtual, and was held on Saturday, November 13. While not as much fun as being there in person, it was a pleasure to attend virtually.

The featured speaker was children’s book author/illustrator Oge Mora (pronounced oh-gay), who gave an inspirational talk about the collage technique she uses to illustrate her books. Using examples from her Caldecott winning book Thank You Omu and other titles, she showed how she gets her ideas, selects her papers--sometimes creating them herself--and the secret of the tiny bits of paper that may look like scraps but can turn out to be the key to an illustration. Here are a few samples of slides she used in her talk.

 

After Oge Mora’s presentation, this year’s honorees of the CLCSC awards were announced: Masha D’yans, Cindi M. Alvitre and Carly Lake, Keith Calabrese, Ernesto Cisneros, Jordan Ifueko and Alana Weisberg. Carly Lake and Jordan Ifueko could not attend, but each of the others gave a thoughtful and gracious acceptance speech. The final part of the program was a panel discussion with Oge Mora and the award winners. 

Panel Discussion: Alethea Allarey, Moderator; Oge Mora, Keith Calabrese, Alana Weisberg, Ernesto Cisneros

Congratulations to the winners, and to the 2021 Fall Gala Committee and Awards Committee for a terrific program. Many thanks to CLCSC President Jennifer Driscoll for chairing the event.

Jennifer Driscoll, CLCSC President

For more about the program and winners please go to the CLCSC website: www.childrensliteraturecouncil.org .

Illustrations from my Day and Night series Available at Etsy

Illustration from A Day and Night in the Rain Forest

This gallery quality print is made from an original cut-paper illustration I created for my children’s book A DAY AND NIGHT IN THE RAIN FOREST, one of four books in the Caroline Arnold's Habitats series published by Picture Window Books (Capstone). This image is on pages 2-3. Even though the paper of the print is flat, it retains the three-dimensional quality of the layered paper of the original art.
The print is 10 1/4 inches by 20 inches with a one inch white border and is shipped in a sturdy mailing tube. Smaller sizes of prints are also available.
Prints make great gifts for the holidays!  Check out my Etsy site for these and other available illustrations.

Illustration from A Day and Night in the Desert

Cut Paper Art Workshop with Fifth Graders at St. Timothy’s School, Los Angeles, CA

A week ago I conducted an art workshop with fifth grade students at St. Timothy’s Elementary School in Los Angeles, California, sharing some of the techniques I use when I am creating the illustrations for my own books.

Earlier in the year the students had written poems about animals. For the workshop they were asked to bring a printout of a photograph of the animal which they would use as a pattern for their cut-out art. The animal in the picture should be about 6-8 inches long and preferably a side (rather than a front) view. So the pictures needed to be expendable--either a Xerox copy of a picture in a book or other source or a picture of the animal printed from their computer.

The students then cut out the animal and traced around it on a piece of construction paper chosen to match the main color of their animal. They then cut out the animal, added details and chose a large piece of paper for the background.

I was amazed at the variety and creativity of the students’ pictures. Everyone had chosen a different animal so no two pictures were alike. Some had chosen to focus on just the head of the animal while others chose the whole animal and placed it in an environment. We had allotted an hour for the project. When the bell rang not everyone was finished although most had made a significant progress. They would have a chance to finish the following day.

Supplies needed for this project: animal picture, scissors, paper punch to make spots and eyes, glue sticks and pencils and a supply of 9 x 12 colored construction paper, especially blue, green and brown.