Congratulations to Matteo Bologna, the winner of the Piggie Portrait Gallery Contest! He got all 16 answers correct and wins this great poster, signed and personalized by Mo Willems. Well done, Matteo!
Ready to see the answers?
1. Alexander Calder
2. Charles Schulz
3. Henri Matisse
4. Robert Motherwell
5. René Magritte
6. Andy Warhol
7. Joan Miró
8. Pablo Picasso
9. Andy Warhol (again!)
10. Mark Rothko
11. Amedeo Modigliani
12. African Masks
13. Vincent Van Gogh
14. Frank Stella
15. Piet Mondrian
16. Henry Moore
How did you do? It seemed a number of you were stumped by #4 (a lot of guesses for Franz Kline) and #14 (popular guesses were Wassily Kandinsky and Josef Alpers). Of 70 entries, Matteo was the only one to get all 16 answers correct. 26 of you were sooo close though, with only one wrong answer!
To learn more about why Mo Willems chose each of these artists head over to his blog and get the inside scoop. Thanks to all the entrants in the contest. We have quite the art-savvy crowd!
Even if you didn’t win, you can still take home an autographed poster. They are for sale in our shop and online here, both signed and unsigned by Mo Willems. And for fans of Mo Willems, save the date of June 22nd, 2013. That’s when our exhibition of Mo Willems artwork: Seriously Silly: A Decade of Art & Whimsy by Mo Willems open to the public. You won’t want to miss it!
We’re so excited to welcome Lucy Cousins, creator of the bestselling Maisy books, to The Carle this Saturday. Guests on Saturday will have the opportunity to not only meet Lucy and Maisy the Mouse, but also see Lucy at work in our Art Studio. This video gives a taste of how Lucy Cousins creates Maisy, with simple bold outlines and lots of color! I loved listening to Lucy talk about Maisy like a dear friend. “She’s a good mouse.”
One of the things that I love so much about Maisy is that she’s a girl mouse, who doesn’t wear dresses all of the time or talk about princesses and the color pink. Instead Maisy is active, curious and kicks around in overalls, driving trucks and trains. Looking at the amazing number of Maisy books and the adventures she has, one of the most important lessons I learned from Maisy is that you can do anything. You can be into gardening, swimming, cooking, or dressing up. You can be a doctor or teacher or chef or explorer. Even a pirate if you want to! Maisy is a leader, a learner and a do-er and I think that makes her a great role model for all young readers of all genders.
Maisy™ is coming to The Carle Museum and she’s bringing a special friend!
Join us at The Carle this Saturday, September 15th, as we celebrate Maisy and her creator, Lucy Cousins. Meet both Artist and Mouse in a day filled with activities and fun including storytimes, art activities and the opportunity to assist Lucy Cousins in creating a “Maisy wall frieze” in our Art Studio. Take a picture with your favorite mouse, have a book signed by Lucy Cousins, see original Maisy artwork in our gallery and take home a gift from Maisy as a way to remember this special day.
Photo by Candlewick Press
Here’s the plan for the day:
10:15 – 10:30 Meet Maisy the Mouse
10:30 – 10:50 Special Maisy storytime in the Reading Library with Carle staff
11:00 – 12:00 Lucy Cousins in the Art Studio
1:00 – 1:20 Special Maisy storytime in the Reading Library with Carle staff
1:20 – 1:30 Meet Maisy the Mouse
1:30 – 3:30 Lucy Cousins book signing
Can’t make it to The Carle? We don’t want you to miss out on a signed book! Order your favorite Lucy Cousins books and we’ll ship them to you, autographed, after the event. Click here to shop online or call us at 413-658-1132.
Support for Our British Cousins: The Magical Art of Maisy & Friends has been generously provided by Candlewick Press.
It’s no secret that we love Jon Klassen‘s work here at The Carle.
First we went crazy over I Want My Hat Back. It was reviewed on Top of the Shelf by Jeannine, it made it onto Susan Bloom’s best picture books of 2011, and it was even Margaret’s staff pick for July. Then we got inspired by his book with Mac Barnett, Extra Yarn, and yarn bombed our Red Elephant sculpture. (We were an Honorable Mention). A young friend even put in their two cents about Extra Yarn for our Caterpillar Review. (Oooh and I got a sneak peek of his new book, This is No My Hat, due out in the fall from Candlewick and I can’t wait for you all to see it! You’re going to love it.)
So I was super excited to pick up these Jon Klassen notecards for our Shop this summer. How cute are these birthday cards? There’s something about the juxtaposition of the stoic blank expression on these animals faces and the party hats and balloons that just kills me.
I also love this crab congratulations card. Yay! You did it!
You can check out all the styles on our website here. I’m fairly certain everyone I know is going to be getting one in the mail this year. Love them!
If you haven’t seen it yet, the film is about Eric Carle and his life. Viewers learn how Eric makes books and where his ideas come from. Film Director, Kate Geis remarks about the film, “we see the man reflected in his work — an artist who loves color and the simple collage imagery of animals and insects that appealed to the six-year-old child he once was, and the 83 year old man he is today. Eric is a warm and encouraging artist. He creates to satisfy his own desire to make art but he wants his audience, whether they are 4 or 40 or 80 years old, to be artists too.”
This film is extra special to us because it culminates in the creation of The Eric Carle Museum. After a lifetime of creating successful picture books and selling over 33 million copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric and his wife Barbara give back by building a 40,000 square foot museum to celebrate picture book art from around the world and the creative spirit in each visitor who walks through its doors. You can read more about the film on its website.
It’s such an educational and inspiring film and is well-loved by educators who use it in their classrooms when doing units on Eric Carle. It has already won the American Library Association’s ALSC 2012 Notable Children’s Video award for “videos for children 14 years of age and younger that exhibit especially commendable quality, show respect for children’s intelligence and imagination and reflect and encourage the interests of children in exemplary ways.”
Here’s a trailer for the film:
Like what you see? Pick up your own copy of the film in our store on online.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
10:30 am – 11:30 am, Auditorium
Free with Museum Admission
Join us this Saturday for a premier screening of new Mo Willems films: Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion and Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct.
Mo Willems will be here to answer questions after the screening and sign books. Please note that seating is limited in Auditorium. Check out Mo’s blog to read more about this event.
Can’t make it to The Carle? Fear not! Pre-order autographed copies before Saturday, July 21, 2012 and we’ll ship them to you after the event. Click here to shop for Mo Willems’ books and toys.
Please note: Mo Willems will not autograph board books or toys.If you’re coming to The Carle for the event, please only one book from home (you can buy as many as you like from our Shop) to have signed. Hope to see you Saturday!
I’m sure by now you have all heard of the sad news that children’s book creator Maurice Sendak passed yesterday at the age of 83. Maurice Sendak changed the face of 20th century picture book, most notably with his Caldecott-winning Where the Wild Things Are, a book that is now a staple in every children’s bookstore and cherished so deeply in so many homes around the world. We honor him here at The Carle every day in our logo and remember The Carle’s inaugural exhibit of Maurice Sendak’s artwork in our galleries.
As the world mourns this loss, we also enjoy looking back at our memories of Maurice Sendak, whether they are personal interactions or memories created by spending time reading his books as children or to our own children. I asked Nick Clark, our Chief Curator and personal friend of Maurice, to share with us a very special visit with Maurice at his home in Connecticut last June.
Every once in a while you get to do something very, very special in your job. I had such an opportunity last June.
We had organized an exhibition of Tomi Ungerer’s work in honor of his 80th birthday. Tomi’s relationship to the US was complicated, ultimately even very negative, so it was both exciting and daunting to know he was returning for the first time in many years. I think he was astonished by the warm welcome he received everywhere. Like Maurice, Tomi was a protégé of the legendary editor Ursala Nordstrom, and the two young artists had become dear friends. By last summer, however, that had not seen each other in 37 years. After our exhibition opening, I drove Tomi from Amherst to New York City with an important detour to Maurice’s home in Connecticut. There I was privy to the most heartfelt reunion between the two unconquerable artists (and of course there were a few good laughs at other people’s expense). Maurice asked Tomi how it felt to be back in the states and he replied, “I have been able to make a nice wine out of sour grape.” Certainly the visit with Maurice contributed to this lovely fermentation.
(l-r) Nick Clark, Maurice Sendak, and Tomi Ungerer
Tomi Ungerer and Maurice Sendak
Maurice Sendak and Tomi Ungerer, with Sendak's german shephard Herman
The photographs of us were taken in Maurice’s lovely yard with his beloved shepherd, Herman.
Please feel free to share your own memories of Maurice Sendak and the impact his books have had on your life in comments below.
We were so lucky to have Kadir Nelson join us at The Carle for the opening reception of our newest exhibition, We Are The Ship, this weekend. On Saturdday night, Nelson led a wonderfully moving presentation about his seven year journey toward publishing this amazing book. He showed us images of his first three paintings of the American Negro League players, done while still a student at the Pratt Institute, which were the initial inspiration for creating the book. It was so wonderful to see these early illustrations, quite different from the final illustrations in the book, where the figures were more like exaggerated caricatures. Players with extremely long arms, huge hands and windmill-like arms reveal Kadir Nelson’s awe of these players’ immense superhuman-like baseball skills.
After he got a contract with his editor, Andrea Pinkney, to not only illustrated bu also write the book, Nelson immersed himself in years of extensive research. It was amazing to hear him talk about old black-and-white baseball photographs and see through his, an artist’s, eyes. He put them up on the projected screen and pointed out the precise body language of the players, the advertisements on the walls in the background. Artful diagonals and unusual horizons were captured at these unique angles because, at this time, photographs were allowed on the ballfield with the players. “That’s what I wanted my book to be,” Nelson said.
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, Original Paintings by Kadir Nelson Tour Management by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, Kansas City, Missouri
Inspired by these photographs and using his own unique talents, Nelson created paintings that look like exaggerated color versions of these old photographs. Readers feel like they are looking up in awe at these giants of ballplayers in stunning still portraits, and feel like they are right on the field in breathtaking action shots. This awe of the ballplayers is echoed in Nelson’s voice as he gushes about meeting actual Negro League players Buck O’Neil and Walt McCoy. After doing so much research through books, photographs and newspapers, for Nelson, meeting these historical heroes was “like meeting Abraham Lincoln after writing a book report on him.” He shared photographs of them together and sound recordings of their conversations with the audience. Through these personal interactions, Nelson was finally able to tackle writing his first book text. He admits that the prospect of writing the book, as well as illustrating it, left him “pleased but also petrified” because he didn’t feel like “a writer.” Inspired by a quote from Nikki Giovanni, “There is no such thing as writer’s block, there’s just lack of information,” Nelson relied on his dedicated research and pure love of history and the game to help bring the text of the book together.Through the conversations with O’Neil and McCoy, he realized that he had to capture their voice and tell the story as if these players collectively are telling their story and speaking together to the reader.
He went on to talk about his more recent venture in writing and illustrating with his award-winning 2011 book, Heart and Soul. He explained that he wanted to tell the American story from the African American perspective, and like writing We Are The Ship with players like Buck O’Neil in mind, he wrote Heart and Soul through the voice of a 102-year-old narrator, whose life and family’s lives paralleled the story of America. In this way, Nelson explains, all of our lives and our family’s lives are the American story and America’s history is the story of how they all intertwine. He spoke about his passion for taking stories that are not necessarily positive and turning them into something beautiful and palatable. The ability to create beauty and share the light inside of us is, Nelson says, human kind’s greatest gift.
Photo by Kristin Angel
Kadir Nelson, Jerry Pinkney, and Tony DiTerlizzi. Photo by Kristin Angel.
Following Saturday’s presentation, Nelson gave a wonderful personal tour of his gallery, followed by a book signing.
Photo by Kristin Angel.
Photo by Kristin Angel
For more about Kadir Nelson’s visit, including a wonderful tour and presentation he gave on Friday to students from the Maurice Donahue Elementary School in Holyoke as part of NEA grant programming, visit MassLive’s website.
There’s a wonderful video of the visit as well. If you missed the chance to meet Kadir Nelson, he’ll be back with us on Sunday, April 1st for an event with Sharon Robinson, daughter of ballplayer great Jackie Robinson, and Simon Scott. Hope to see you there!
You may remember the our bestselling Eric Carle DVD was recently remade into a gorgeous and inspirational short film. Here’s the link to July’s post about it.
We’re so happy to share the news that ALA has named it a 2012 Notable Children’s Video! The videos that win this recognition are “videos for children 14 years of age and younger that exhibit especially commendable quality, show respect for children’s intelligence and imagination and reflect and encourage the interests of children in exemplary ways.”
We couldn’t agree more. Thanks, ALA! If you haven’t had the chance to see the video yet, here’s a sneak peek. You can purchase copies on our website here or check it out of your local library.
Wow! Yet again we have a star-studded weekend packed full of presentations, performances, book signings and exhibits.
This Saturday marks the beginning of another year of wonderful performances by Picture Book Theatre in our Auditorium. Picture Book Theatre merges dance and puppetry to bring to life favorite picture books on the stage. This year’s performances are renditions of Eric Carle’s Rooster’s Off to See the World and Eric Carle’s Slowly, Slowly, Slowly said the Sloth. Tickets are $5 and performances are at 2:00 and 3:00 pm Saturday November 5th, Saturday November 12th, Saturday November 19th, Friday November 25th and Saturday November 26th.
Last week we opened our newest exhibition, Growing Every Which Way But Up: The Children’s Book Art of Jules Feiffer, which will be in our East Gallery until January 22, 2012. The exhibition includes delightful original sketches and finished artwork from favorite books such as Bark, George, I’m Not Bobby, I Lost My Bear, and The Daddy Mountain. There are also samples of his early works and cartoons, including a strip of Will Eisner’s The Spirit that Feiffer worked on during his teens. And of course, just in time for the 50th anniversary of The Phantom Tollbooth, the exhibition includes illustrations from the classic as well as his more recent collaboration with Norton Juster, The Odious Ogre. But, as Lavar Burton would say, “you don’t have to take my word for it.” Let Jules Feiffer tell you about exhibition himself!
Following the members-only reception Saturday night featuring a discussion with Jules Feiffer and guest curator, Leonard Marcus, Jules Feiffer will be back again on Sunday at 1:00 pm to give a personal tour of his exhibition, followed by a book signing. We have all of his books for sale in our Shop and even if you’re unable to make the actual event, as always, you can pre-order books from us to have autographed and shipped back to you after the event. Click here to buy books to be autographed by Jules Feiffer and here for books by Leonard Marcus, including brand-new and much-buzzed-about The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth.
But wait, there’s more! Also here at The Carle is Caldecott-winning illustrator Beth Krommes! For the next in our series of author and illustration BookTalk interviews, Andy Laties will be interviewing Beth Krommes in the Auditorium at 11:30 am (don’t forget Daylight Savings!), followed by a book signing outside the Shop. This event is free and does not include Museum admission. If you can’t make the interview, don’t worry, we’ll be filming it to put up on our blog later. Click here if you’d like to purchase books by Beth Krommes to have autographed and shipped to you.
Need more excitement? Also this Sunday, join Horn Book Magazine editors Roger Sutton and Martha V. Parravano in the Auditorium at 3:00 pm as they talk about their fabulous and essential resource book, A Family of Readers: The Book Lover’s Guide to Children’s and Young Adult’s Literature. They will be talking about how and why children read and give advice on how to select books to nourish your own “family of readers.” Click here to pre-order an autographed copy (or three!) of their book. This book is going to make an excellent holiday gift for families and book lovers.
After an event-packed day at The Carle, head on down the road to Northampton, MA where everyone who’s anyone in children’s books will be at the R. Michelson Galleries for their 22nd Annual Children’s Illustration Exhibit Reception. We’ll be there selling books that you can get autographed by the many wonderful authors and illustrations in attendance. Need more convincing? Here’s 22 reasons why you should attend, including the dedication of the 4th Annual Norton Juster Award for Devotion to Literacy to Roger Sutton. Click here for fun photos from past shows.
We’re so excited that 
