It Began With One Old Book

When I was 5 my grandparents decided to downsize and move from their beautiful late 19th century Dutch colonial home. It was a big beautiful house set on the main street in town. There were nooks and crannies in that house that fascinated me as a child. The only place we weren’t allowed to visit was the attic, which wasn’t a problem because, there was always so much more going on elsewhere. Its kind of ironic though that my last memory of the house was a visit to the attic with my mother to look through the things my grandmother didn’t want to take with her. We walked up a steep set of stairs to find a great space with some little rooms off of it. Of course I wasn’t allowed to explore, I had to focus my attention on the paltry pile of stuff in the middle of the room. The only things that I found of any interest was an old papered cardboard tube containing bone knitting needles and a book, “Through the Looking Glass” written by Lewis Carroll, and illustrated by John Tenniel. The book was in bad shape, but I loved the illustrations and poured over them for a long time, they really had an impact on my creative eye. Most were black and white line drawings peppered throughout the text. Interestingly enough, my own early illustrations were executed in pen and ink and I attribute my love for the medium to that old beat up blue book.

Years later, after I’d been working for awhile I started going to antique shows and house sales with my mother, we loved old stuff. There was very little I could hope to afford, until in one particular show I found a large quantity of children’s books. It brought to mind the book I had gotten from my grandmother’s attic, which I still have by the way. So I started to buy children’s books and amass yet another collection. Side note, I wonder if the prerequisite of being an artist is being a collector (I’m refraining from using the term “pack rat”).

Fast forward 15 years to about a year ago. My brother picked up a complete set of “Our Wonder World” for me which was meant to be used by mothers (I think) to home school their children. What a fascinating set of books, and the pictures and illustrations are terrific! It was because of these books that I started to look closer at the children’s books’ designs and research the illustrators. It was interesting to learn about women like Mabel Lucie Attwell, Lilian A. Govey, and Nelly Littlehale Umbstaetter, and how they made their mark in a male dominated field. I was touched by their portrayal of children in simpler more innocent times. The little puffy children by Mabel Lucie Attwell greatly influenced the cherub shaped figures I form out of porcelain.


By the way, these fanciful little creatures I'd made were the inspiration for “Clay Doodles”. I was sitting in the studio one evening, just waiting to be inspired, and these little people and houses came out of nowhere. It was almost as if I was doodling in clay similar to someone doodling on a scrap piece of paper. If you’ve never had a chance to mush your fingers in a wad of clay, I recommend that you give it a try, it is therapeutic!

CD