Anita Kunz
When an internationally acclaimed illustrator lands on your little island, the sun shines so much brighter. Anita Kunz arrived for a residency at the Illustration Institute in early August and my family eagerly attended her workshop at the Fifth Maine last Tuesday. Anita’s presentation began with the claim “Art has power” and her show of illustrations by others from history and contemporary culture made that point brilliantly. Art can incite violence, recruit people to war, or to resist war. Art can challenge the status quo or invoke worship, provide satire or remind us of...
Read MoreMarilyn Faison Artist Residency
Many thanks to the Illustration Institute for a week’s artist residency a mere five minute walk from my Peaks Island home. So close, and yet so far away. The dirt road winds up into the woods where tall pines make you forget the summer hubbub that is now Peaks Island. The chance to be in a place apart brings a new awareness for any artist. I found so many objects of affection around the house, and drew some into the little book made in Gregory Christie’s Illustration Institute Workshop. Fallen petals urged me to capture the welcoming bouquet. too. I chose a work space on a second...
Read MoreThis Island Life
For the past two weeks, I’ve been up to my salty eyeballs with all things Illustration, largely thanks to the Illustration Institute’s second season of incredible programming. I’m excited to co-lead a Nature Sketchbooks By the Sea Workshop with author Lyn Smith this Thursday on July 26! Details HERE. On July 10, my MECA colleague, Judy Labrasca, joined me and several kidlit friends for Gregory Christie’s Illustration Institute bookmaking workshop at the Fifth Maine. Gregory is an award-winning illustrator and author with a special interest in book-binding. On the...
Read MorePicture 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 MoreSweet finish for Illustration MECA juniors
I last wrote about my class at Maine College of Art after the first month of the semester HERE. So so SO much has happened since! I’ve gotten to know the Junior Major illustration students better, their abilities and voices have grown, and it has been one blur of productivity. Project 2 finals were brought in, and the crit was quite articulate and thoughtful, regarding the success of illustrating a figure in an environment with convincing space and depth. These two used the phone as a prop. Project 3 involved illustrating one of three editorial essays for a magazine. One was from...
Read MoreIllustration MECA field trip
A week ago I traveled west with senior Illustration MECA majors, co-chaperoning another field trip led by our intrepid Department Chair Mary Anne Lloyd. This time we ventured in a wagon train of cars, landing at the venerable Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. While awaiting everyone’s arrival, we ate our bag lunches in the classroom, appropriately surrounded by the drawings of young artists. Our tour guide, Patrick O’Donnell, led us through early works by Rockwell, with the eye of a professional illustrator. We saw Rockwell’s detailed studies in charcoal...
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