More than twenty illustrators of children's books, including James Ransome, Robert Sabuda, Maira Kalman, and Maurice Sendak, talk about their work.
"Art literacy is as simple as opening the pages of a children's book." In her introduction to Wings of an Artist, Julie Cummins discusses the importance of exposing young people to art during their formative years, especially through picture books. Twenty-three illustrators, including Maurice Sendak and Graeme Base, are allotted one big page each to describe in pictures and words how they became artists, in spite of or thanks to reactions from others. Under her glorious picture of a flying dragon with myriad colorful critters on its back, Woodleigh Marx Hubbard tells readers what all her art teachers told her: "You have no talent. Give it up!" She couldn't. She didn't. Michael McCurdy's father was a commercial artist who gave his son scratchboard to scribble on--and the inspiration to bring "dark surfaces into the light."
The variety of artistic styles, media, and methods represented in this book beautifully reflects the diversity of the artistic world. An activity guide offers an array of fun, useful exercises to open any creative mind. Young artists--and readers who have never even picked up a paintbrush--will be filled with the desire to start interpreting their world through pen and ink, watercolor, crayon, collage--whatever it takes. All proceeds from this book go to the American Library Association's Association for Library Service to Children, as part of a nationwide effort to promote art literacy. (Ages 7 and older) --Emilie Coulter
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Incomplete:
This book covers twenty-one illustrators. Each Illustrator is given a brief bit of information, a few paragraphs of information, sometimes just a snippet and one is given three sentences!
Generally a single illustration example is given to each illustrator. One of the illustrators has a picture of himself (probably self-portrait?) and no book illustration. This book has 32 pages. A sampling. This book needs to be padded with more infomation about each illustrator and more examples of illustrations by... more info
Wings of an Artist:
How many times, when reading a good book, have you wished for the opportunity to meet with the author, ask them questions about their work, their influences and inspirations?And when reading or being read to is an important part of a child's life, it's natural to assume the desire is just as intense. "Who made this book? Its pictures? What led them to create this story and these pictures for me?" For parents and children alike, some of these questions are answered in the book "Wings of an Artist:... more info
Excellent in the Classroom!:
Imagine for a moment that you bring together twenty or so children's book illustrators and ask them to explain in words and pictures: "What gives flight to an artist's imagination?" This is exactly what Wings of an Artist does. The result is a rich mosaic of exquisite illustrations and writing that are both inspired and inspiring.
In the oversized pages, Leo and Diane Dillon discuss how they created a new version of Mother Goose. (They gave her a flying machine so she could "soar amongst the clouds with... more info
Disappointing:
This book was created for children so I was pretty disappointed. If you are an artist wanting some tips I wouldn't recommend this book.
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