Picture Book Finale!
I couldn’t have asked for a more satisfying ending to my story at Maine College of Art than the Picture Book course that just wrapped up last week. I wrote about the first half of the semester HERE, and the second half really picked up speed. After a snowy spring break, I returned to class with props for a life drawing session meant to warm us all UP. Students volunteered to model. Meet Queen Veronica. Drawing with my students is better than spring! The sheer variety of results is a delight. This sketch is by Aric. This one’s mine. My teaching assistant Liz Long’s sketch...
Read MoreThe Niceties
The Niceties is a sharply relevant play by Eleanor Burgess now in it’s final performances at Portland Stage Company. Thanks to a busy April, I didn’t see it til Friday night. I gathered a group of educators, mostly at the college level, to see the train wreck that transpires between a white female history professor at an elite university and her black student. When I read the script, I knew it would be one of the most compelling productions of the current season. The dialogue is fast-paced and urgent. The divides are many: of race, age, privilege, class. While gender may unite...
Read MoreBaltimore beauty
We flew down to Baltimore last week for a delicious dose of our daughter and a shot in the arm of spring. We picked her up at Maryland Institute College of Art and caught up at Tapas Teatro. Our gregarious server, Seth, made us feel welcome and ready to roll. The magnolias are in bloom there! We make the Paper Moon Diner a regular stop, for the milkshakes and the ambiance of over-the-top assemblage. A tribe of sculptures protects the premises, adorned with cutlery, creamers, and coins. I sketched one of them after we got home. Next we went in search of Joyce Scott’s show, Still...
Read MoreBright Horizons
I traveled last week to a Boston area Bright Horizons. I made an evening presentation to early childhood educators about illustrating picture books and how visual literacy and drawing engages children. I always bring ample materials for discussion! The Riverpark Center’s Lead Teacher in Kindergarten Prep, Julie, helped me set up my table of books, art supplies, and props. While kids and parents were departing, I checked out the colorful rooms filled with stimulating shapes and textures. After talking about writing and illustrating Seven Days of Daisy, and answering questions, I...
Read MoreSeason Launch at Portland Stage
Last night Portland Stage revealed the posters I’ve been working on since January during their Season Launch. That crew never ceases to amaze me with their acrobatic juggling of events and sheer creative muscle. Director of Communications Eileen Phelan built a crowd eager to see what’s in store for next season, while Marketing Associate Lena Castro had managed all my digital files into their proper places. Thank you! Executive and Artistic Director Anita Stewart and Literary Manager Todd Brian Backus greeted me. Love these two visionaries. While the audience streamed in, photos...
Read MoreBrick by brick
Nicole d’Entremont is a Peaks Island neighbor who inspires me deeply. We met in Eleanor Morse’s Sudden Fiction course years ago, when she first arrived on the island. Both Eleanor and Nicole have been tremendous mentors for me, with writing and leading the way in social justice activism. I made this card for Nicole from an illustration I did for The Star Fruit Tree, a Vietnamese folk tale. She traveled to Vietnam in December, volunteering in a Habitat for Humanity Global Build in the Mekong Delta. Nicole was recruited by old friends who had, like her, worked at the Catholic...
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