Meeting Rosemary Wells at the Eric Carle Museum! 11.22.09

On Sunday, my son and I traveled about an hour and a half to Amherst, MA to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. We went to meet Rosemary Wells, author and illustrator of tons of kids books (such as Max and Ruby! My son's favorite!!) It was a really great day, and I am a HUGE fan of this museum!!

Rosemary Wells was there to give a talk and celebrate 30 years of Max and Ruby (amazing!)... We headed into the spacious and colorful art studio where everyone was encouraged to make a party hat for the "bunny party"! (My son was a little disappointed there was no cake... but there were decorations and balloons! haha)

It is incredibly fun to sit down with a bunch of brightly colored scrap paper and ribbons, and all sorts of other odds and ends, and make whatever you want out of it! "Grown-ups" don't get to do this often enough!!!

So, we made our hats...




Then we modeled them:


Next it was over to the auditorium where we sat and listened to Mrs. Wells give a talk about her artistic process. She showed some slides of her studio and artwork... and even her favorite paints and supplies. This part was especially enjoyable for me, because she also works alot with watercolors, as I do, and it was fun to hear her naming her favorite colors to use (I believe "scarlet lake" was one of her favorites). :)


My son sat so quietly and listened to her talking. He was so interested, even in the slides of the paints and brushes! (yay)
She read one of her stories (Yoko Writes Her Name) and described her thought process for writing the book and illustrating as she went along. Her dog Sophie was sleeping at her feet the entire time, obviously used to traveling around and giving talks in front of large groups of people. :) Mrs. Wells described how Sophie is the inspiration for her McDuff books.


We didn't actually have a Max and Ruby book for her to sign, because we usually get them from the library! So, we went to the absolutely awesome museum store, which is just FILLED with any children's book you can think of, as well as tons of other goodies and toys. (They also have an online store!) We ended up buying the book she read at the presentation... Then it was off to wait in the big line!
Sporting our party hats, of course:



She signed the book with my son's name in it...


Then she chatted with him for a moment. He made her laugh and it was very cute. :)


We will definetly be back to the museum for the upcoming celebration and exhibit of original Golden Books art!! (I took a sneak peek in the closed off gallery - through a window - and it looks amazing! I can't wait!) Read about it HERE!

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!