Maine Art Educators Spring Conference
What could be finer than meeting up with Maine art educators at the Ecology School at River Bend Farm? I was delighted to speak this past weekend at the MAEA awards ceremony and lead two zine making workshops. Bonus: my former MECA student, Liz Long, was my ride! She’s now in her second year teaching Commercial Art at PATHS. After finding our dorm room, we strolled to the river. We walked past other teachers painting en plein air, the Ecology School farm, and this row of trees. All the workshops were held in these yurts, which looked like stubby pencils to me. I brought a batch of...
Read MoreStarship Unity
detail from SKYWATCHER by Jamie Hogan When fellow children’s book creator, Lucky Platt, invited me to visit the Unity Public Library last week, I was thrilled! I received this completely adorable handmade star book as an invitation to a Storyteller Supper at her house on March 24. How cool is that?! handmade star book by Lucky Platt My visit would be the culmination of a 3-day Star Party. Sweet! graphic courtesy of Unity Public Library After a delicious dinner with new friends, Lucky and her partner, Jim MacDonald, brought me to the nearby Unity Elementary School for a presentation by...
Read MoreOh, Chickadee!
Forcing Spring, pastel on paper by Jamie Hogan, March 2006 This winter is going out like a LION, isn’t it?! Here we are hunkered down for yet another snow storm. It was in March 2006 that I drew this little chickadee with a ceramic vase holding branches about to bud, a hopeful gesture titled, Forcing Spring. Fast forward to last March on this very day, when I was working on cover ideas for Jennifer Jacobson’s manuscript Oh, Chickadee! sketchbook from March 14, 2022 photo © Jamie Hogan I’ve always been enamored by chickadees. When McSea Books offered me the opportunity to...
Read MoreShining Stars at Peaks Island Elementary
I am still floating from the warm welcome I received at the Peaks Island Elementary School (aka PIES:) on December 20. My visit was timed just before the winter solstice, and there were stars everywhere! collage mural by students at Peaks Island Elementary School photo by Jamie Hogan I was delighted to see students’ art all over the school. They had made a field trip in November to see the Great State of Maine Illustration exhibit at the Brick Store Museum, where this illustration from my book Skywatcher is on view. I love how they captured the bright lights, the red car, and all the...
Read MoreThe Milky Way
Here is the story of a book stitched by friendship over many years. photo by Jamie Hogan Gunnel Larsdotter, dear friend and former island neighbor, approached me years ago about illustrating a beloved poem she had translated, Vintergatan, also the Swedish word for the Milky Way, or Winter Street. I was intrigued. It’s a magical telling of how the bridge of stars was built by two lovers separated by death, written by a Finnish poet, Zacharias Topelius, in the mid-1800’s. She first read it in school as a young girl and it lodged deep in her heart. She couldn’t find any...
Read MoreWord. 2022
We’re back from a delightful weekend of celebrating Word, the Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival. photo by Jamie Hogan It’s back in person after two years of virtual programs. I am still pinching myself that I was part of the schedule. It began Thursday night, October 20, with a Star Party led by Dwight Lanpher, a member of both Dark Sky Maine and the International Dark Sky Association as well as thirteen other astronomical organizations. An electrical engineer by day, this guy knows his galaxy! Dwight Lanpher sets up his telescope, Blue Hill Maine photo © Jamie Hogan The clear...
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