Eric Carle Museum and More Custom Work

I took my son to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art the other day. It's in Amherst, MA. I'm sure you know Eric Carle's work, even if you don't recognize his name... He's the author and artist of many great children's books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, among countless others. The artwork for the Hungry Caterpillar is on display until September 6 to celebrate Carle's 80th birthday, and I'm so glad I was able to see it! He uses a process of layering tissue paper, and the pieces are very delicate so they can't be on display all the time. I recommend checking it out if you can before the exhibit closes!



The museum also houses the artwork of other picture book artists, which rotate every six months. I saw the work of Tomie de Paola who wrote and illustrated some books that really touched me and I remember reading them as a kid, like "The Art Lesson" and "Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs." Seeing his artwork for the books, and especially his non-book art was awesome!



Also in the gallery was the amazingly detailed watercolor and ink work of E.H. Shepard who illustrated the classic Winnie the Pooh stories.
The museum also has a great library where the books are sorted by artist... and a huge art studio where kids and adults can make projects! It was a really great day and we'll definetly be back for more visits!




I also just finished some personalized bookmarks for a customer. I think they came out cute!