viva la victoriana
I’m always up for a spectacle and when I heard from Tracy Quimby at Victoria Mansion that a performance artist would be dressing from corset to cape, I had to be there. As part of the NEA’s Big Read initiative, Victoria Mansion had chosen The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. All kinds of book discussions, film screenings, and lectures are happening around this book. I met up with two Victoriana fans in the front row of the PMA auditorium: Lex Golubow, a former student and recent MECA grad. She came dressed in her best Victorian outfit and ready to get a good look. Lex often...
Read Morethaw and draw
I worked on some wee little pastels for the new group show, “Thaw”, at the Gem Gallery. I found this rough sketch in one of my sketchbooks, thinking it would be an idea to pursue. Then I morphed it into an absurd image of synchronized skaters on thin ice. There was an event locally of the national synchronized skating association. I didn’t go, but couldn’t ignore the media around it. At any rate, I lost interest in the pastel. I only had small frames and little time in which to do something so detailed. I returned my attention to nature instead. I’m all done...
Read Moreseen and noted
I was invited to be part of a professional panel to review the progress of students in MECA’s Illustration Department. It’s always gratifying to see what students are up to, and this year’s crop of majors has such a variety of directions up their sleeves. Senior Leonora Dechtiar is working on a children’s book with puppets of Persian characters. She got great feedback on the potential of 3D imagery in the book, along with hands-on puppet activities that could accompany readings. Junior Katie Long is experimenting with book ideas, collaging, goauche, pop-up mock-ups,...
Read Moresweet reward
Every book that Melissa Sweet does seems to be just up my alley. There was Carmine, a Little More Red. Fabulous: reds galore, hot pinks, a fairy tale send up with an alphabet soup flavor. It was my favorite book, until….then she illustrated A Boy Who Drew Birds. Audubon and birds, what’s not to like? Then, Tupelo Rides the Rails….trains, lonely hounds, the stars, a hobo. A book to tug at your heart and want to visit a shelter. So then, that was my favorite book. She just topped herself with A River of Words, a book of poetic leaps and collage symphonies. It won a Caldecott...
Read Morebon annee!
Yep, today marks a year of blogging for me. Hard to believe. It was a quick year. I was skeptical about blogs, about me blogging, about the intention and time involved. Whether anybody reads it or not, it has been a challenging exercise and mostly a good one. I started at the urging of Kirsten Cappy, who has no doubt singlehandedly spawned a megaplanet of bloggers. The impetus was to give visibility to Rickshaw Girl, which I illustrated for Charlesbridge Publishing. The author, Mitali Perkins, was coming to Portland for a library talk with me. It turned out to be a swell event; I could...
Read Moresweet zeitgeist
I enjoyed a sweet return to the House of Ninja this week, otherwise known as the Illustration department at Maine College of Art. The Illustration and the Graphic Design departments now share studio space, allowing for an energetic cross-pollination of disciplines. For the first time, both departments hosted an Open Studio. I’m not really sure how much mixing goes on, but it was a full house of curious and curiouser. Megan Walker and Mary Blaxland stood at the door exercising their considerable satiric skills in caricature, probably drawing me as the Faculty Beasty. I spied a new face,...
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