Category: Arts

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#Nonfiction Monday: An Artist and An Architect

Let’s explore some of the fantastic nonfiction children’s books that have been nominated for 2018 Cybils awards.

So many wonderful biographies were nominated this year. Because we only have a limited time to talk about them, I’m going to pair books about two women who have produced public art that has changed lives.

In alphabetical order by the subject’s last name, first we have the picture book Ruth Asawa:  A Sculpting Life by Joan Schoettler and illustrated by Tracie Van Wagoner.

Ruth Asawa’s story could have been made into at least two books. She started out life as Aiko Asawa from Southern California. She was given the Americanized first name Ruth when she went to school. A short time later World War II started, and she and her family were taken to one of the Japanese internment camps. While inside, Ruth studied art and spent her free time creating. If the author had chosen, this could have been an entire story of its own.

But there was more to Ruth. Once she was released, she used her experiences to create astonishing looped-wire sculptures and later on, public fountains. She became a renowned sculptor.

You can see some of her amazing sculptures in this video.

The tone of both the text and the illustrations are appropriately more subdued than some of the other biographies on the nomination list (for example, last week’s post). The brightest illustrations are the first spread, when Ruth was Aiko on the farm where she grew up and the last spread showing the beautiful Garden of Remembrance Ruth designed to honor the Japanese-Americans who were interred during the war.

Black and white photographs of Asana and her work are included in the back matter.

Ruth Asawa:  A Sculpting Life will captivate readers interested in history and those who enjoy art. It is a perfect choice for women’s history month, too. Pick up a copy and be inspired today.

Activity Suggestion:

Fold an origami butterfly (Instructions — and links to more patterns– in this previous post)

Age Range: 6 – 9 years
Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. (August 30, 2018)
ISBN-10: 9781455623976
ISBN-13: 978-1455623976
ASIN: 1455623970

Moving on in time, we have the middle grade title Maya Lin: Thinking With Her Hands by Susan Goldman Rubin.

Not everyone knows, but the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. was designed by a young student of Chinese descent. The architect Maya Lin has gone on to shape many more breathtaking buildings and outdoor spaces.

Abundant color photographs reveal Lin’s story and her projects, like a gorgeous two-page spread of the Storm King Wavefield covered with snow (see). The images give the book a vibrant, modern feel. They also make you want to go visit all the places she’s created.

Of note: Susan Goldman Rubin shows Maya Lin’s talent didn’t arise from thin air.

“…her aunt had been an architect and architectural historian in Beijing. She had come to the United States to study architecture, but she was not admitted because she was a woman. However, within a year she wound up on the faculty.”

Do you know a budding architect or artist? Get Maya Lin: Thinking With Her Hands into their hands right now!

Activity Suggestion:

Check out an informational video about Maya Lin and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Khan Academy (especially appropriate since today is Veterans Day).

Publisher: Chronicle Books (November 7, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1452108374
ISBN-13: 978-1452108377

Disclosure: The books were provided by our local libraries. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

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Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

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#Kidlit: Art Lesson Using A Celebration of Beatrix Potter Book

Have you considered doing a lesson on picture book illustrators, which would combine aspects of art, literature, and history?  A Celebration of Beatrix Potter: Art and letters by more than 30 of today’s favorite children’s book illustrators by Beatrix Potter (and many others) is a perfect resource to get you started.

Last year, 2016, was the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth. To honor her, thirty-two famous children’s book illustrators produced artwork and stories inspired by Potter’s picture books. The featured illustrators range from Lauren Castillo and Tomie dePaola to Rosemary Wells and Pamela Zagarenski. See Kelly Murphy’s website for one example.

The official word is this book is for readers grades three up. You might be skeptical, but it does have the potential to appeal to a range of ages.  Younger children will be probably be captivated by the assortment of illustrations and the excerpts from Potter’s children’s books. Adults will be interested in the accompanying essays by the illustrators, as well as the historical tidbits provided as background for Potter’s books. For example, we learn The Tailor of Gloucester was Beatrix Potter’s favorite and that it was based on a true story. How fun!

A Celebration of Beatrix Potter is a treasure trove to explore, especially for readers interested in art and books. It is valuable as a resource for art and history lessons, and as a reference. But best of all it is a fitting tribute to Beatrix Potter’s genius. Check out a copy today.

Examples of ways to use the book for art lessons:

Activity 1. Exploring Illustrations

Gather:

  • A Celebration of Beatrix Potter
  • Books by the featured illustrators
  1. Free exploration:   Encourage children to examine the illustrations in A Celebration of Beatrix Potter closely. They may be surprised by what they discover. For instance, David Wiesner points out Jeremy Fisher (a frog) has tiny non-frog feet with shoes on when he’s out of the water. Look at the thickness of the lines, the colors, textures, etc.
  2. Challenge:  Show an illustration from another book by one of the featured illustrators (without identifying the illustrator). See if the children can figure out who the illustrator is by matching similarities to illustrations in A Celebration of Beatrix Potter. Hint:  Rosemary Wells and Tomie dePaola might be good illustrators to start with.

Activity 2:  Warm and Cool Colors

Gather:

  • Paper
  • Crayons
  • Colored pencils
  • Markers
  • Optional:  Paints and paintbrushes

Explain that colors on a color wheel are divided into warm and cool colors based on how they relate to our experiences and how they make us feel. Warm colors are red, orange, and yellow. Cool colors are green, blue, and purple.

Show the children an illustration filled with cool colors, like Jon Agee’s illustration on page 33. Contrast it with an illustration with warm colors like Rosemary Well’s illustration on page 51. You can also compare the winter scenes on page 46 with the warm interior scenes on page 47. Ask the children to point out the warm and cool colors in each. Encourage them to describe how they feel about each illustration. Why do they think the artist chose those colors?

Have the children create their own illustrations using mostly cool or mostly warm colors. If they have the time and interest, have them create an illustration with the opposite colors and compare them.

 

Take a peek inside from Google Books:

 

Age: Grade 3+
Hardcover: 112 pages
Publisher: Warne (November 1, 2016)
ISBN-10: 0241249430
ISBN-13: 978-0241249437

Beatrix Potter had pet rabbits as a child.

Disclosure: This book was supplied by our local library. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

 

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Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

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Art Books for Kids: Beyond Crayons With The Big Book of Color

Do you want to celebrate children’s art and nurture creativity? Get off to a great start with two new consumable activity books.

The Big Book of Color: An adventurous journey into the magical & marvelous world of color! (Big Book Series) by Stephanie Meissner, with artwork and illustrations by Diana Fisher, Lisa Martin, and Damien Barlow introduces children to color wheels, complimentary colors, analogous colors, and color values through activities and tear out pages.

With dimensions of 8.8 x 0.5 x 11.8 inches, this really is a big book. Every page is covered with big, bold bright illustrations that really “draw” children in.

After explaining and exploring the color concepts in the first 31 pages, the rest of the book consists of fun tributes to different colors. For example, the first color showcased is red. After explaining that red is a primary color, what its complement is, and that it is a warm color (all concepts defined in the first part of the book), readers are taken on a whirlwind tour of things that are red. Each page features a mix of stock photographs and illustrations, plus sidebars with color factoids (like red means stop and bees don’t see red), each section finishes with step-by-step instructions to draw and color a specific animal.  The red animal is a hermit crab in a shell. In addition to the six colors of the traditional color wheel, the featured colors include pink, brown, gray, white and black.

So, who is the target audience of this book? Preschoolers generally are the ones learning their colors and thus would appreciate the featured color sections, but  the consumable art pages, and draw and color activities require fine motor control skills of 7 or 8 year-old children. The good news is that, rather than being a drawback, the ambiguous age range of the book is an asset because it means that it would work well for families and mixed age groups. It also likely that a single child might return to it over the years and find out more and more as his or her grasp of concepts and skills develop. The front section might even be helpful for adults to brush up on color concepts before working with children.

The bottom line:  The Big Book of Color has a little something for everyone.

Age Range: 5 and up
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr; Act Clr Cs edition (January 6, 2015)
ISBN-10: 1600584357
ISBN-13: 978-1600584350

The Big Book of Art: Draw! Paint! Create!: An adventurous journey into the wild & wonderful world of art! (Big Book Series)

This companion book is a guide for using different art media such as crayons, colored pencils, markers, and paint.

Age Range: 5 and up
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr (January 6, 2015)
ISBN-10: 1600584349
ISBN-13: 978-1600584343

Related:

1. Tissue Paper Color Bleed Activity

Gather:

  • Colored bleeding art tissue paper
  • Water
  • Large sheet heavy-duty white paper, such as watercolor paper or even card stock
  • Spray bottle
  • Newspapers or plastic sheets to protect work surface

Color bleeding art tissue is easy to use and gives beautiful results. For a basic project, simply lay strips and pieces of the tissue in a layer onto the white paper. Spray water onto the tissue until damp enough for the colors to bleed. Allow the artwork to dry over night and then remove the tissue. The colors will create unique mixes where they overlap.

tissue-cool-colors

Extend the project by sorting the tissue into warm colors versus cool colors, or explore complimentary and analogous colors.

Artospectives has more complete instructions, more ideas to expand the project, and lovely photographs of finished projects.

2. Pinterest Boards

Have you ever used Pinterest? It is a great way to organize links to projects you’d like to do, particularly art projects. Take a look at my board Art Projects for Kids to get ideas.  Let me know if you have any links to suggest, as well.

Disclosure: The Big Book of Color was provided by the publisher for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

nonfictionmonday

Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.

 

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Spring Into Art With Modern Art Adventures

Spring is just around the corner and what better way to get into a festive mood than with a great book to inspire art projects?

Modern Art Adventures: 36 Creative, Hands-On Projects Inspired by Artists from Monet to Banksy by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw is like a hands-on children’s art museum. It features art history, examples of artwork of famous artists to study, and 36 fresh and imaginative  hands-on projects to take learning to another level.

 

The book is divided into seven chapters , each of which cover a modern movement or category of art:

  • Impressionism
  • Expressionism
  • Portraits
  • Abstract Art
  • Graphic Art
  • Pop Art
  • Street Art

Within each chapter are introductions to specific pieces of work of two or three artists that embody that category. (In the back matter are short biographies of each artist for those who want to delve deeper. ) Following are two hands-on projects inspired by each artwork that teach children about an array of different media and techniques. Because there are two projects, the reader has a choice of doing one or both of the activities depending on constraints of time, supplies and/or interest.

Each project is shown a two-page spread. An example of the finished project is shown on one page, with step-by-step instructions (including photographs of the project in progress) and a materials list on the other.

As a former Art Masterpiece volunteer, I love this book. Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw are experienced art teachers and writers. Their real life experience is evident throughout the book. These are projects that could be easily carried out at home, in the classroom, or in an after school program setting. They require art supplies, but most of them are easy enough to find. Even the larger grocery stores are carrying and array of art supplies for kids these days. The only thing I would say even remotely questionable is the choice of calling attention to graffiti-artist Banksy in a children’s book, but the art piece they choose to emphasize is fresh and highly appropriate.

The bottom line is every child deserves to be exposed to art and Modern Art Adventures is a wonderful way to accomplish that. Pick up a copy and help youngsters start producing their own masterpieces today!

 

Related activity inspired by the book:

Shamrock Art Activity for St. Patrick’s Day

Gather:

  • Photographs, illustrations or living “shamrock” leaves (ours is pink woodsorrel, Oxalis debilis)
  • Pencil
  • Oil pastels in shades of green
  • Art paper
  • Blending tool or vinyl eraser (optional)

shamrock-leaves-oxalis

If you use living plant material, you may want to flatten it in an old book for 30 minutes to an hour to make it easier to trace. If you are using illustrations or photographs, cut out the shamrock shape.

1. Arrange the shamrocks in a pleasing design on the paper.

2. Trace around the leaves or cutout shamrocks lightly with a pencil.

3. Remove the leaves or cutout shamrocks.

4. Cover the pencil outline with a thick line of oil pastel in shades of green.

cray-pas

5. Using a finger, blending tool or vinyl eraser, pull the color into the center of the leaf evenly. This will give a smooth, shaded appearance. Wash your fingers before changing colors.

single-shamrock

Extension:  More advanced artists may want to fill the shamrocks with oil pastels and blend in layers of colors. This instructional video from Jerry’s Artarama will give some details how to do this.

Age Range: 6 and up
Publisher: Chicago Review Press (April 1, 2015)
ISBN-10: 1613731779
ISBN-13: 978-1613731772

 

Disclosure: The book was provided by the publisher for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

nonfictionmonday

Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.