I will be selling and signing books at booth #110 at the RISD Holiday Art Sale , this Saturday, December 3, from 10am – 5pm, at the Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
Posters for the first 25 customers who buy a copy of Pocketful of Posies. Free notecard with every book purchase. Out-of-print books for sale: In the Heart, Mary Had a Little Lamb and Wee Willie Winkie. Original fabric relief illustrations on display. I hope to see you there!
My husband Rob and I had lunch at the Red Arrow Diner in Manchester, NH this past Saturday. We were in town, just about to head around the corner to the New Hampshire Institute of Art where I was giving a speech for New England SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Illustrator Day. We found out that the Red Arrow is rated one of the top 10 diners in America. On the wall, we saw lots of photos of our waitress Elaine, taken with Presidential candidates during Primary seasons of the past. So, we thought it would be fun to take her picture during our visit. Our rosy glow is from a red neon sign next to our booth. Off to the right of the picture, you can just see a photo of her with Al Gore.
We were so busy setting up our presentation and meeting people at the SCBWI event, that we forgot to take pictures. I enjoyed meeting book designer Carol Goldenberg, who I’ve heard about for years. Her talk showed all that goes into making a book from a designer’s point of view. I was so excited when she showed the evolution of the cover design for Beth Krommes’ The House in the Night. Beth and I were both printmaking students at Syracuse U., before I transferred to RISD and we’ve kept in touch since. All of her books are wonderful! I scanned my copy, which I bought when the book first came out, before it won the Caldecott and had gold stickers put on.
I talked about my development as an artist from childhood to the present. I spoke about the challenge of fitting into the illustration world when your artwork isn’t the usual watercolor paintings. I used Melissa Sweet’s new book, Balloons Over Broadway as an example of someone who is taking risks with her illustration, combining collage, sculpture and watercolor painting. In this book, she tells the story of Tony Sarg, the puppeteer behind Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
She made toys and puppets to go along with the text and set up these delightful assemblages. Too fun!
I have a little break until the next event–RISD’s Holiday Sale, Rhode Island Convention Center, Saturday, Dec 3rd.
This past Saturday I gave a talk and signed books at the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair, which is held every year at the UConn campus in Storrs. It’s a big affair, with about 20 different authors and illustrators giving presentations. Just before my slide talk was about to start, I learned that the ordered cartons of my book, Pocketful of Posies, had not arrived. They had a few copies of Posies (from the UConn Coop), some Felt Wee Folk and Hey, Diddle, Diddle!, but that would be it. I was stunned for about 30 seconds and then decided that I wasn’t going to let this taint my weekend at the fair. People had come to see me and I would give my talk and spend time meeting them even if there wasn’t a stack of books to sign. I had brought posters, so I signed those instead of the Posies book. I met some really nice people and one woman told me that she drove 3 hours to come see my exhibit and hear my 10:15 am talk! And my husband Rob had a great time schmoozing with the other authors and illustrators and their spouses. Oh, see my new leather and carpet purse from Turkey on the table next to me.
The highlight of the evening banquet was seeing my former teacher, David Macaulay. He was one of the authors at the fair and I was hoping to have a chance to talk to him. It had been about a dozen years since we saw each other last, so we had a really nice chat, catching up and reminiscing about RISD days. I was surprised when he pointed to his lapel pin, which looked vaguely familiar. It was a stuffed cloth pyramid that I gave him when I was his student in about 1977! His Pyramid book came out around that time.
I had completely forgotten about making it. He knew I was going to be at the fair, so he wore it! I was so touched by his thoughtfulness. I spent the rest of the evening floating on air. Read about my pins here.
We saw the exhibit of my original illustrations from Pocketful of Posies on campus, at the Dodd Center.
Here’s the sign at the entrance to the gallery.
The space is perfect for small work, with lots of cases and good lighting. The curator, Terri Goldich did a great job fitting 39 illustrations into the gallery. There are some comfy chairs and a small TV at the back where you can sit and watch my Rabbitat film, too.
Last Tuesday, I visited the Horn Book Magazine’s office in Boston. I went to pick up my original artwork, which will be on the cover of their January/February issue. Designer Lolly Robinson showed it to me on the computer and it looks great! Editor in Chief Roger Sutton and I held up the original for a snapshot before I took it back home.
UPDATE: See photos and read commentary about how I made the illustration for The Horn Book cover in this post.
The original piece is now in a private collection.
The whole staff had lunch together around the big wooden table and we talked about our common love–children’s books. There were many posters and magazine covers hung up around the space. I was happy to see my college friend Beth Krommes’ cover from her Caldecott winning The House in the Night. (top row, center left). Her new book, Swirl by Swirl is amazing!
Lolly took a closeup photo of me sewing a little hand. It’ll appear alongside my Horn Book Award speech, which will be printed in the January/February issue. I don’t have a picture of the thread wrapping process in such small-scale, so its nice to be able to show it here.
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Now that we’ve been home for a few days, I’ve been reviewing the calendar, seeing what I’ve signed up for in the next 2 months. I try to keep an up to date schedule of talks, presentations and book appearances on my events page, but wanted to make sure the word is out here, too. In the next week, I’ll be giving 3 talks, all listed at the end of this post. First, I want to share an article about my work that just came out in the Nov./ Dec. issue of Cape Cod Life Magazine. See the article online: “Life’s Canvas: Wonderous Wee World”.
The article was written by Mary Grauerholz, who seemed to get what I was doing from the start of our interview. During the photo shoot, 20-something Anthony Despezio jumped around my studio, clicking pictures of everything in sight. He paused at an original illustration from my first book, The Way Home, saying “This picture is from my book, I remember this elephant.” Apparently, he had the book as a child and didn’t make the connection until he saw the illustration in my studio. Of course, I had to share this with the story’s author, Judy Richardson. It was so neat to find out that a book we made over 20 years ago stayed with a boy who grew up to be a cool, creative young man. This is the picture that triggered his memory, which is the emotional climax of the story, when Savi’s mother leaves her on the beach alone. To read the series about the making of The Way Home, click here.
The Way Home, page 18
Upcoming schedule of events:
Saturday, November 12th – University of Connecticut Children’s Book Fair, Storrs, Connecticut. Salley will give a slide talk about her work at 10:15 am. Original Illustrations from Pocketful of Posies are displayed on campus at the Dodd Research Center through Dec. 16th. Sat., Nov. 12th only–gallery will be open from 12 noon to 3pm. Normal hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Monday, November 14 at 4:30pm: Falmouth Art Center, Falmouth, MA. Salley Mavor will talk to families about the creation of her books. Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, will be for sale.
Saturday, November 19th, 1:00-6:00 pm: Salley Mavor will be the keynote speaker at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (New England) ILLUSTRATOR DAY to be held at the Emma Blood French Auditorium (The French Building) on the New Hampshire Institute of Art campus in Manchester, NH. Information and Registration.
DECEMBER
Saturday, Dec. 3rd – Salley Mavor will have a booth at the RISD Holiday Sale, RI Convention Center, Providence, RI.
Saturday, Dec. 10th – 1:00 – 3:00 pm, Book Signing at the New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA.
detail from "There was a Crooked Man"
This past weekend my husband and I went to the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards ceremony at Simmons College in Boston. It was a wonderful event, with the word’s nicest audience — children’s book people, librarians and teachers.
I accepted an award for my picture book, Pocketful of Posies and came home with this shiny engraved bowl. My name is even spelled correctly! I immediately filled it with some wee friends, as well as my mother’s old teddy bear.
As an award winner, I was asked to illustrate a cover of the The Horn Book Magazine, which will appear in their January 2012 issue. That same issue will publish this year’s award recipients’ speeches (including mine). Here is a peek at the illustration while I was working on it. I’ll show the finished product when it is published in the magazine in a few months. The magazine also plans on making it into a poster, which they’ll have available at meetings and conferences.
As you can see, I’ve formed the Horn Book title out of found objects and felt covered wire. I showed pictures of the process as part of my presentation at Saturday’s Colloquium at Simmons. I’ll be delivering the original to the photographer, Rick Kyle later this week and am looking forward to meeting him, since he did such a great job taking the pictures for my Posies book.
A great big thank you the Horn Book for the award and the opportunity to share my work on the January cover of the magazine!
Congratulations to Cindyfelter, Nancy K. and Carlie H. , who are the winners in the Pocketful of Posies poster giveaway. I will be sending e-mails to notify each of you, so you can send me your mailing addresses. Here’s a photo of Saturday’s book signing at Eight Cousins Bookstore, taken by the owner Carol Chittenden. Despite the impending storm, a few people showed up, including my doctor, who is a stitcher himself! They are celebrating 25 years in business and are the only bookstore left in town. We’ve had agreat relationship over the years and I’m always willing to go in and sign a book on request.
I’ll be talking about book, Pocketful of Posies this Saturday, August 27, 11 am to 1 pm at Eight Cousins Bookstore, 189 Main St., Falmouth MA. I’ll also bring along some original illustrations to show. I hope that some of you can come, even with hurricane preparations to take care of! Irene’s not expected until Sunday night.
It’s time for another poster giveaway! To increase your chances to win, sign up for an e-mail subscription to this blog or tell me that you are already subscribed through WordPress. Either way, leave another comment, for an extra point in the drawing. To sign up, click Sign Me Up on the home page side bar. Three winners (international, too) will be picked at random on August 31st.
Last week, illustrator Ashley Wolff came to visit. We were classmates at RISD in the 70’s and haven’t seen each other for several years, so it was great to catch up. She was traveling with her most recent border collie, Tula.
Ashley has illustrated a ton of beautiful books, including the popular Miss Bindergarten series, which features a border collie kindergarten teacher.
Miss Bindergarten is available as a stuffed doll, a perfect replica of the book character in her green pinafore. Ashley brings Miss Bindergarten along on her travels and she took a picture of her in my studio with my wedding dolls.
I invited my neighbor, Molly Bang and her husband Jim over for dinner, thinking it would be fun to introduce her to Ashley. It turns out they know each other already, from an illustrators group in San Fransisco, where Ashley lives and Molly lives half the year.
Salley, (Tula), Ashley and Molly
Out on our patio, we had a vegetarian meal made with my garden produce; tomato pie, zucchini pancakes, string beans and cucumber salad.
I’m glad to know such talented and nice people, who happen to be successful in the children’s book world. Here are some of Molly’s wonderful award-winning books.
SALLEY MAVOR 