SALLEY MAVOR

WEE FOLK STUDIO

Impromtu book signing on friday

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Salley Mavor

Book signing CANCELLED due to snow.

I’ll be up in the Boston area this friday, so the Danforth Museum asked if I’d like to come in for an hour to meet people and sign books. Everyone is invited to come to the museum in Framingham from 12 noon to 1:00 pm. My original illustrations from Pocketful of Posies are being exhibited an extra week, until Saturday, January 29th, so there’s more time to get to the show. I’d love to see some blog followers on friday!

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Also, Pocketful of Posies was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book of 2010. The ALA committee writes,”Familiar and lesser known nursery rhymes, illustrated with superb needlework and appliqué, create a charming dollhouse of a book.” Thank you to all of the wonderful librarians around the country who have taken notice of my book!

Martin Luther King day

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Salley Mavor

In honor of Martin Luther King, I’ve gathered some images from my children’s picture books.

from “In the Heart” 2001

from “You and Me: Poems of Friendship” 1997

detail from “In the Heart”, 2001

from “You and Me: Poems of Friendship” 1997

from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

from “In the Heart” 2001

from “Hey, Diddle, Diddle!” 2005

This post was inspired by the pictures of Mimi Kirchner’s beautiful dolls on her blog.

Also, the Pocketful of Posies exhibit at the Danforth Museum will be extended another week, until Sat., January 29th.

visit to Studio Goodwin Sturges

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Salley Mavor

I recently visited Studio Goodwin Sturges in their new location in Providence, RI. Judy Sue Goodwin-Sturges and I have known each other since I took her illustration classes at RISD in the mid 70’s. We’ve worked together on books since she started her studio in the 90’s. In addition to teaching, she represents a wonderful group of artists, some of whom are former students, and matches them up with publishers. Here she is in her studio office.

The studio moved from Boston to this window lit space in the back of her house. It’s located a few streets from where my mother grew up in Providence.

I saw a felt banner I made years ago displayed with some of the studio’s books. I didn’t know that they were involved with Puff the Magic Dragon and Judy Collins’ Over the Rainbow books. There’s a nice note from Peter Yarrow.

The Studio is a wonderful, supportive agency that has developed hundreds of children’s books.

One box filled room was full of books that Judy Sue moved from Boston. We combed through dozens of boxes until we found my books. She’s trying to down size, so she gave me most of what she had.

One of my early dolls was propped up on the center table at the studio. Her shoes and vest are made of leather.

It’s the same doll that I’m making in the photo below, which was taken by my roommate at RISD in 1976.

salley at RISD 1976

I also saw the framed pin display I made for Judy Sue sometime in the 80’s. This way she could see her collection. The custom-made cow may show my first use of bead udders.

: pin display, 1980’s

Visiting the new studio, with so many visible memories, makes me appreciate how much support I’ve received from Judy Sue to do what I love to do! I’ve written about how she encouraged me during my student years at RISD in earlier posts here. I love this picture of her with some of her former students, including Ashley Wolff and Holly Berry. Thanks Judy-Sue!

Judy-Sue (back), Salley, Ashley Wolff and Holly Berry, 1980's

Pocketful of Borders: back cover

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Salley Mavor

I always make book covers toward the end of a project. In the case of Pocketful of Posies, I’d already spent a couple of years on the book before I was ready to tackle the all important jacket design. See the front cover in an earlier post here. Whereas the front requires a title and by line, all the back really needs is space for a bar code.

sketch for "Pocketful of Posies" back cover

I decided to make a child inhabited landscape and neighborhood without a clear up or down. This way, I could set the scene for the book, going from general to more specific inside. Day and night would be separated diagonally.

Since the illustration already had a border of leaves, I just had to make a pattern (in red paper) and cut the felt into the wavy shape.

Then, I blanket stitched around the entire outside edge with pima cotton. I also signed and dated the bottom corners with chained stitched embroidery floss. This original illustration is part of the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA, which will be on display through January 23rd.

back cover from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Close-ups (foliage)

Posted on December 26, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This series of close-ups shows the progression of my stitching technique and style over 20 years of illustrating children’s books. The first picture shows a detail of the banana trail that Savi the elephant follows through the jungle in The Way Home (1991). Read the story about making The Way Home here.

from "The Way Home" 1991

I made a stencil and painted grass on the velveteen background in The Way Home‘s sequel, Come to my Party (1993).

from "Come to My Party" 1993

Jump ahead a dozen years and I’m embroidering blades of grass and sewing glass beads to a wool felt background in the board book, Hey! Diddle, Diddle.

detail from "Hey! Diddle, Diddle" 2005

And still obsessing over french knots in Jack and Jill.

detail from "Jack and Jill" 2006

This one shows a small section of the illustration from the song One misty moisty morning in my most recent book, POCKETFUL OF POSIES . If you are having difficulty finding a copy of the book, it’s because the first printing has sold out. My local bookstore, Eight Cousins, stocked up, so they might still have some (508.548.5548). The situation will soon be remedied, as the second printing will arrive from Hong Kong in mid-January.

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Pocketful of Borders: Little Jack Horner

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner/Eating a Christmas pie/ He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum/ And said, “What a good boy am I.”

: Little Jack Horner from “Pocketful of Posies”

I made this illustration toward the end of the three-year Pocketful of Posies project. I was never happy with the original sketch and by the time I started working on it years later, had changed the design entirely. At first, Jack was sitting under a Christmas tree in an interior domestic scene. The next thing I knew, the wall had disappeared and Jack was half way inside and halfway out. He was still sitting with his pie, but he had let in the wintry outside. I never seem to be satisfied with a design, until nature bursts in.

After the artwork was photographed for the book, I stitched a felt border and framed the picture, which is now touring in the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit.

I like using variegated embroidery floss whenever possible. It adds a range of hues and a vibrancy that solid colored threads lack.

The snow on the roof top and in the sky is made from circular sections cut out of lace. Inside the driftwood house, the area behind Jack and the tree is textured with tiny stitches of different colored threads.

Little Jack Horner from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Jakob and the ring around a roses book

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Last week I heard from a mother whose 2-year-old son has latched onto his copy of my new book something fierce. I’ve heard a lot of compliments from grownups, but the account of this little boy and the “ring around a roses book” made me feel tingly inside, like the whole project was worth it. His mother, Kitty Flynn writes, “At 26 months, Jakob can recite most of the rhymes from Pocketful of Posies. Not surprising, since he went on a Pocketful binge for a few weeks. That’s the only book he wanted to look at, the only book he wanted read to him.

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

“Baa Baa, Black Sheep” was the first one he regaled us with. (there were about 3 days straight when that’s pretty much all he said. Over and over. Really, Really fast).

Next was “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” delivered in his own cadence: “up above the world SO high/ Like a diamond in THE SKY.”

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

I’ve lost track of how many he knows. We hear them when he wakes, we hear him them when he’s falling asleep. We read the book during meals, he brings it with him for diaper changes (TMI? Sorry).

from “Pocketful of Posies”

I’ve found him a couple of times sitting quietly (you have no idea how bizarre it is to see him sitting quietly) looking intently at the book. He’ll look up and say, “Reading a book. This a good page.” And I have no doubt that the lightning fast recitations are being soaked up by his 13 month old sister, who is just beginning to say words. I want you to know that your collection has made a real and lasting impression on one language-loving little boy and his family. So, if anyone asks, why do we need another nursery rhyme book, just tell them to come talk to me.”

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Jakob and his family live in the Boston area, so they are planning on visiting the Pocketful of Posies original art exhibit at the Danforth Museum in Framingham. I wish I could be there to see his reaction!

Book supply update: Pocketful of Posies has been selling so well that the publisher and all book distributors have sold out of the first printing. The new print run isn’t scheduled to arrive from Hong Kong until mid-January, so whatever supplies bookstores and online retailers have in stock is it for now. When I first heard about this, I thought about the Cabbage Patch doll craze in the 80’s and imagined customers fighting in stores for their copy of “Posies”! Luckily, my local bookstore, Eight Cousins, planned ahead and stocked up. There are some autographed copies still available at 508.548.5548.

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book signing at the Danforth

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I met some really nice people at the book signing last Sunday at the Danforth Museum. There were 2 women from Utah, here in Boston on a business trip, who made the trek out to Framingham. I met another pair of women who have followed my work for years. One invited the other on a “surprise outing” and they ended up at my show! The children’s librarian from Framingham Public Library brought some wonderful dolls that she made using my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk. One doll looked like a “little maid from school” in the Mikado. In the photo below, I’m signing a copy of Pocketful of Posies for Horn Book editor Martha Parravano (seated), whom I was delighted to meet for the first time.

Margaret Raymo, my editor at Houghton Mifflin came, too! This was the first time we’ve seen each other since “Posies” came out. We’ve been working on this book for 5 years, so it was great to celebrate together. I am grateful to Margaret for doing the opposite of micro-managing and trusting me fully. Margaret always said, “take as long as you need” and didn’t balk when told her I couldn’t finished the illustrations in time to make the original pub date of 2009.

Salley with Houghton Mifflin editor Margaret Raymo

The Danforth had art activities set up for children that day, including this fabric and found object collage workshop.

art day activities at the Danforth

I gave a short gallery talk about the artwork, explaining the process of illustrating a book and telling about how I made the pictures.

Children and their parents did a scavenger hunt for different animals and objects in the illustrations. They looked closely at the artwork and searched around and around the gallery, holding miniature magnifying glasses.

The exhibit will be on display in the children’s gallery at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA until January 23rd, 2011. The Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit will tour for 3 years.

Close-ups (couples)

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Salley Mavor

News Flash! My interview with Jules at the Seven Impossible Things blog was posted today. Just a warning though– there are tons, I mean tons of pictures in the article!

This series of couples begins with a detail from Vineyard Family, which I made in 1985. During the 80’s I experimented with flattened dolls on embellished backgrounds and came up with the term fabric relief to describe what I was making. See other details from this scene here and here.

These gingerbread cookies are appliqued and embroidered on a wool felt balsam pillow. This project is in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.

And the dish ran away with the spoon in my board book version of Hey, Diddle, Diddle! The dish is formed out of polymer play and cut with a scalloped edged biscuit cutter. The silver spoon is beat up and old, but he strikes the dish’s fancy.

This detail is from my 2007 piece, Self Portrait: a personal history of fashion. My husband, Rob joins me for the year we were married (1981) in the spiral of 52 dolls, which age from birth to 52. I made our full size wedding outfits in 1981, too. See a post about the Self Portrait here.

This detail from Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes shows the last part of the Jack and Jill rhyme when a wounded Jack “went to bed to mend his head with vinegar and brown paper”.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

“Posies” makes Horn Book Fanfare!

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Salley Mavor

OK, it’s time for celebration! I just got word that my new book, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes has been put on the highly respected Horn Book Magazine’s Fanfare list of best children’s books of 2010. Martha Parravano, The Horn Book’s executive editor, said in an interview with 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast that my book “features scene after stunning scene created in embroidery – which sounds quite static, and yet the pictures are not only gorgeous but also full of life and movement and story.” I love this description because my main focus was to bring as much life and movement into this book as possible, given the limitations of the technique.

Posies has also been given a Platinum Best Book Award by the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. Their web site says, “The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio is the only independent consumer review of children’s media.” Apparently the Oppenheims talk about children’s toys and books on programs like the Today Show, but living in a cocoon without TV for most of my adult life, I hadn’t heard of them. There is something special and symbolic about a seal. Maybe this isn’t a big deal, but I thought it was nice that such a mainstream group would even notice my book. Yeah!

Jumping Joan (detail from "Pocketful of Posies")

Shoo fly don't bother me from "Pocketful of Posies"

Reminder: Original illustration from Pocketful of Posies are on display in the children’s gallery at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. until Jan. 23rd, 2011. I will be giving a short talk about my work at 2:00pm at the museum on Sunday, Dec. 5th and signing copies of my book from 1:30-3:30.