At The Carle
I mentioned the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art yesterday in my post about The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s 40th anniversary. I’m sure many of you know that The Caterpillar book was just one of many, many wonderful children’s books by Mr. Carle. Other hits include but are not limited to “The Grouchy Ladybug”, “The Mixed Up Chameleon”, “Pancakes, Pancakes”, “Papa Please Get The Moon For Me”, “The Very Busy Spider”, “The Very Quiet Cricket”, “Draw Me A Star”… I could go on and on, and I’m tempted to, but I don’t really want to drive you away. Suffice it to say, Eric is an impressively prolific artist and picture book illustrator and writer. He clearly loves what he does, and if the sheer size of his professional portfolio isn’t enough to convince you of that, perhaps a visit to the museum that bears his name would do the trick. The Carle represents the physical manifestation of Eric’s longtime dream to elevate the public perception of picture book art to the level of high art. Something you may not know about the museum is that in addition to devoting a large space to the exhibition of Eric’s own work, the museum devotes even more space to the exhibition the work of other picture book artists. In the six and a half years the museum has been open, I have been lucky enough to see original work by such greats as Dr. Seuss, Leo Lionni, Maurice Sendak, Arnold Lobel, Ashley Bryan and Beatrix Potter. There are three main galleries in The Carle. Currently on view through August 30th in the west gallery is “80/40: Celebrating the Birthdays of Eric Carle and The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. In the central gallery through April 26th is “Petra Mathers: Lottie’s New Friend”. A new show is being installed in the east gallery right now. It will reopen on March 24th with “Those Telling Lines: The Art of Virginia Lee Burton” which will be on view through June 21st. I’d never heard of Petra Mathers until I met Lottie the chicken at her debut show in the central gallery a couple of years ago. She’s quite a fowl and I have to say, I’m glad to have made her acquaintance. I’d also never heard of Ashley Bryan whose work I fell in love with in that same central gallery. I’ve found The Carle is a great place to discover art for the first time. I also knew nothing of Virginia Lee Burton until recently when I heard tell of her work through my friends at The Carle. From what I’ve been told, this is going to be another great show! Seeing the work of all the artists I’ve mentioned and so many I haven’t has made it clear to me that picture book art is an often overlooked genre full of rich, extraordinary work that takes such diverse forms as painting, drawing, collage and even sculpture. get directions to The Museum Oh yeah, and did I mention? They have cute bathrooms at The Carle! -Steph Gerolimatos
^^^urinal fly target!
March 21, 2009 at 7:10 am
That’s worth the drive to me just to see Virginia Lee Burton – Mike Mulligan is my hard-workin’ big-diggin’ hero!
March 21, 2009 at 9:56 am
May 10, 2009 at 5:38 am
Sadly, this crazy need to pay the mortgage is interfering with my ability to get up there for VLB – I’m still going to try to schedule time for tomie de Paola though!
March 21, 2009 at 10:08 am
If there is one particular book I go looking for it’s kids picture books these days (aside from the neccesity of researching septic tank construction for my place). I don’t have any kids, but I do have a bunch of nieces and nephews whom are home-schooled and rather sheltered. I get the impression they get educated with their parents somewhat limiting sphere in one branch, and that it is my mission to be there should certain diversifications arise, sort of like a chick poking its beak through the egg.
Some days, usually before birthdays, one can find me lingering in the children’s book section wondering what would be better received: picture book, or literature? Then I end up transported back to my own childhood knowing what I would have wanted instead! The last time it was a picture book about a little black girl who moved out to the west with her parents who was like a Paul Bunyon character. And now I forgot the illustrator/author!
March 21, 2009 at 10:31 am
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March 23, 2009 at 11:08 am
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March 28, 2009 at 8:21 pm
[...] this post about the fabulous Smith College bathrooms? and that time I mentioned the cute bathrooms at The Carle and supplied a link to pics? Well it appears [...]