What Makes an Artist?
Judy Freeman, Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 12/2/2008
Related TeachingBooks.net resources »»»
Listen to Susanna Reich introduce Painting the Wild Frontier
Hear Deborah Kogan Ray introduce Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw
What does it mean to be an artist? What makes a person an artist? Some children know that feeling of being lost in concentration when working on a drawing. Others proclaim they’re no good at art and don’t even want to try their hand at it.
Get your students thinking about the creative process with Twenty Heartbeats by Dennis Haseley (Roaring Brook, 2008; Gr 2-7), a simple but tantalizing picture book that reads like a parable, illustrated with solemn and stately paper collages by Ed Young. When a wealthy man commissions a painting of his favorite horse from the artist Homan, known as a great painter of these magnificent creatures, he is furious at having to wait many years for the work to be finished, and confronts the artist. Only then does Homan paint the picture, a masterpiece, and though it takes him only 20 heartbeats to complete it, it has taken him years of practice and preparation. Break out brushes, paint, and paper so children can try painting what they love best.
For further artistic inspiration, read them Deborah Kogan Ray’s stellar picture book biography, Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw (Viking, 2008; Gr. 2-5), which begins with the familiar rhyme:
| “Hundreds of cats, Thousands of cats, Millions and billions and trillions of cats.” |
That memorable, chantable refrain is from Gág’s classic picture book, Millions of Cats (Putnam, 1928) that won her a Newbery Honor, way back then. Born in the German settlement of New Ulm, Minnesota in 1893, Gág and her six younger siblings were encouraged by their parents to draw, write stories, and put on costume plays in the backyard. At school, she daydreamed about drawing, a feeling she called having “drawing fits.” She wrote, “I simply couldn’t understand why all people didn’t draw.” When she was 15, her father, a painter, died of tuberculosis, leaving the family penniless. With her mother near exhaustion, Wanda took charge of running the household, painted bookmarks and holiday cards to sell at the local drugstore, and submitted her illustrated stories to magazines. Her motto in those trying times was “Draw to live, and live to draw.”
Using engaging and inspirational primary source quotes from Gág’s diaries, which the artist kept all her life, author/illustrator Ray provides a compelling portrayal of a determined young woman who overcame many obstacles to pursue what she loved the most—art. Facing each page of text is a stunning full-page drawing, rendered in transparent and opaque watercolor and colored pencil, depicting a pivotal scene from the woman’s life. What shines through is Gág’s sheer tenacity in carrying out her father’s last words: “What Papa couldn’t do, Wanda will have to finish.” Your students may be motivated to start their own notebooks of sketches, writings, and observations. You’ll also want to read aloud Gág’s children’s books to examine and discuss her work.
Other spectacular new biographies you won’t want to miss sharing with your students introduce unforgettable and indefatigable artists and their works. Susanna Reich's Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin (Clarion, 2008; Gr. 5 Up) is an engrossing and handsome biography of the artist who, from 1830-1836, toured the American West documenting the lives and customs of the Plains Indians, painting hundreds of portraits and scenes of daily life and ceremonies. Susan Goldman Rubin’s picture book biography, Whaam!: The Art and Life of Roy Lichtenstein(Abrams, 2008; Grades 4-10) presents the Pop Art icon and Andy Warhol contemporary who painted huge comic-book and cartoon-based canvases and made art out of “non-art.”
And then there’s of Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan’s riveting new colorful title on Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond (Roaring Brook, 2008; Gr. 4-8), which follows the 26-year process leading to “The Gates” in the winter of 2005, where 7,503 saffron-colored fabric panels were unfurled for a 16-day, 23-mile art happening in Central Park, in New York City. The cover photo depicts white snow contrasting magically with the undulating orange panels. This gorgeous nonfiction picture book captures in words and oversize color photographs the excitement and the thrill of the “The Gates,” and traces the remarkable career of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The double-page photos of their other installations including the 24.5 mile Running Fence in California, the Surrounded Islands in Florida, and the Wrapped Reichstag in Germany are simply mind-blowing.
Children will want to make art (and maybe wrap it) when they finish exploring these extraordinary books. For further reading, below is a bibliography of some of my favorite children’s books to share with the next generation of artists.
Judy Freeman (www.JudyReadsBooks.com) is the author of Once Upon a Time: Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and Reader's Theater with Children in Grades PreK-6 (Libraries Unlimited, 2007). Her latest project is writing all the children’s book reviews and content for author James Patterson’s new Web site, www.ReadKiddoRead.com.
BOOKS ABOUT ART: AN EXPLORATION
Novels about Art
Balliett, Blue. Chasing Vermeer. Scholastic, 2004. (And its sequels, The Wright 3 [2006] and The Calder Game [2008])
Konigsburg, E. L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Atheneum, 1970.
Park, Linda Sue. A Single Shard. Clarion, 2001.
Other Animals Artists
Arnold, Katya. Elephants Can Paint Too! S&S, 2005.
Auch, Mary Jane. Eggs Mark the Spot. Holiday, 1996.
Hurd, Thacher. Art Dog. HarperCollins, 1996.
Laden, Nina. When Pigasso Met Mootisse. Chronicle, 1998.
Lithgow, John. Micawber. S&S, 2002.
Children Do Art
Browne, Anthony. Willy the Dreamer. Candlewick, 1998.
DePaola, Tomie. The Art Lesson. Putnam, 1989.
Garland, Michael. Dinner at Magritte's. Dutton, 1995.
Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. HarperCollins, 1955.
LaMarche, Jim. The Raft. HarperCollins, 2000.
Kroll, Steven. Patches Lost and Found. Winslow, 2001.
Leedy, Loreen. Look at My Book: How Kids Can Write & Illustrate Terrific Books. Holiday House, 2004.
McDonnell, Patrick. Art. Little, Brown, 2006.
Mills, Claudia. Ziggy's Blue-Ribbon Day. Farrar, 2005.
Reynolds, Peter H. The Dot. Candlewick, 2003.
Reynolds, Peter H. Ish. Candlewick, 2004.
Schwartz, Amy. Begin at the Beginning: A Little Artist Learns About Life. HarperCollins, 2005.
Scieszka, Jon. Seen Art? Viking, 2005.
All About Art and Artists
Greenberg, Jan, ed. Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art. Abrams, 2001.
Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought). Harcourt, 1995.
Micklethwait, Lucy. A Child's Book of Art: Discover Great Paintings. DK, 1999.
Sayre, Henry M. Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces. Chronicle, 2004.
Tang, Greg. Math-terpieces: The Art of Problem-Solving. Scholastic, 2003.
Weitzman, Jacqueline Preiss. You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum. Dial, 1998.
Biographies of Famous Artists
Duggleby, John. Artist in Overalls: The Life of Grant Wood. Chronicle, 1996.
Duggleby, John. Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence. Chronicle, 1998.
Fritz, Jean. Leonardo's Horse. Putnam, 2001.
Gherman, Beverly. Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush. S&S, 2000.
Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Action Jackson. Roaring Brook, 2002.
Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop. Delacorte, 2004.
Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Chuck Close, Up Close. DK Ink, 1998.
Lyons, Mary E. Starting Home: The Story of Horace Pippin, Painter. Scribner, 1993.
Markel, Michelle. Dreamer from the Village: The Story of Marc Chagall. Holt, 2005.
Reich, Susanna. Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin. Clarion, 2008.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. Andy Warhol: Pop Art Painter. Abrams, 2006.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. Edward Hopper: Painter of Light and Shadow. Abrams, 2007.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. Delicious: The Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud. Chronicle, 2007.
Rubin, Susan Goldman. Whaam!: The Art & Life of Roy Lichtenstein. Abrams, 2008.
Warhola, James. Uncle Andy's. Putnam, 2003.
Children's Book Illustrators
Reading is Fundamental. The Art of Reading: Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF's 40th Anniversary. Dutton, 2005.
Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children about Their Art. Philomel, 2007.
Christelow, Eileen. What Do Illustrators Do? Clarion, 1999.
Cummings, Pat, ed. Talking with Artists: Volume Three. Clarion, 1999.
Engel, Dean and Florence D. Freedman. Ezra Jack Keats: A Biography with Illustrations. Silver Moon, 1995.
Knock, Knock! Who's There? Dial, 2007.
Krull, Kathleen. The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss. Random, 2004.
Marcus, Leonard S. A Caldecott Celebration: Seven Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal. Walker, 2008.
Peet, Bill. Bill Peet: An Autobiography. Houghton Mifflin, 1989.
Agee, Jon, et al. Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Dial, 2006.
Wings of an Artist: Children's Book Illustrators Talk About Their Art. Abrams, 1999.
Mickelthwaite, Lucy. A Child's Book of Art: Discover Great Paintings. DK, 1999.
Raczka, Bob. Art Is . . . Millbrook, 2003.
Raczka, Bob. Here's Looking at Me: How Artists See Themselves. Millbrook, 2006.
Raczka, Bob. No One Saw: Ordinary Things Through the Eyes of an Artist. Millbrook, 2002.
Raczka, Bob. Unlikely Pairs: Fun with Famous Works of Art. Millbrook, 2005.
Richardson, Joy. Inside the Museum: A Children's Guide to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Abrams, 1993.
McClintock, Barbara. The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle. Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
Listen to Susanna Reich introduce Painting the Wild Frontier
Hear Deborah Kogan Ray introduce Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw
Related TeachingBooks.net resources »»»
