Norman Rockwell Museum
Last Sunday we were on the road, visiting colleges. No sermons or egg hunts, yet the Easter bunny found us in a parking garage over the Mass Pike. What serendipity to discover the Mass Pike ends in Stockbridge, home of the Norman Rockwell Museum. We decided to worship there for awhile. As an illustrator, Rockwell holds a large place in my world, but I discovered I knew very little about him. Recently, author Elizabeth Hand visited Maine College of Art while writing a review of a book about Rockwell. She asked us what we thought of such a ubiquitous icon in the field of illustration. He is...
Read Moresketch-a-thon
I’m kinda the Johnny Appleseed for sketching, I throw seeds for sketchers everywhere I go. Why? Sketching is an activity for everyone, a tool, a means to an end, a process, document, a story. The more you sketch, the better you will see and understand your world while your drawing becomes an ever more fluent visual language that can be read by anyone, anywhere. Currently, the Portland Museum of Art is exhibiting Fine Lines, American Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum. I’ve stopped in twice and still need more time to take in all the wonders of this show. MECA colleague and amazing...
Read MoreMECA Boston swing
Once again Maine College of Art illustration seniors visited CloudKid in Boston, an award-winning studio specializing in children’s media. Founder and Creative Director Dave Schlafman gave an entertaining presentation on his formative obsessions and artistic development. An enthusiasm for pop culture, toys, and games drives their work, and they often declare Story Jams to brainstorm ideas. Characters begin on paper, quickly fleshed out in a sketchbook, before taking a long path to the final version. Dave offered priceless advice to eager students: upon getting out of art school as an...
Read Moremuir meander
Curious City recently invited me to be part of a panel discussion about children’s books with the venerable Baxter Society, a fine flock of bibliophiles who meet monthly in Portland, Maine. I was honored to join Daniel Minter and Stephen Costanza to chat about how we do what we do. I always learn something new about my colleagues. In a nod to esteemed illustrator/bookseller/author/Vice President of the Baxter Society, Michelle Souliere, I shared this gem from my 2013 Sketchbook Project. Michelle is the owner of The Green Hand Bookstore, where a booklover can swoon all day with the...
Read Morestudio tour
I’m always curious about illustrators’ studios. We work tucked away with our supplies, books, and collectibles, the sum of which never ceases to delight me. I brought my senior illustration students on a tour of local studios in Portland, Maine last week, beginning with Joe Rosshirt, who graduated from Maine College of Art in 2011 when my students were freshmen. He discussed how he got through the first months after graduation and his tips for hanging in there: always be working on your own thing. He brought out projects from senior year that informed his final portfolio. Joe...
Read MoreA Generation of Leaves
Peaks Island author Nicole d’Entremont debuted her second novel recently at the Peaks Island Library to a warm crowd, stating, “I wanted to launch my book in the community where it was written.” A Generation of Leaves begins in Pubnico, Nova Scotia, where Nicole’s ancestors settled centuries ago. The story follows two brothers who enlist in World War 1, and takes the reader from Canada to the trenches of France and back. She displayed some of her rich sources of inspiration and information, including her uncle Leo’s attestation papers from 1914. This...
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