Danforth opening

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Last Saturday, the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA, had an opening reception for their new exhibits, including my show in the children’s gallery. The original fabric relief illustrations will be displayed here until January 23rd, 2011. I really like the way they hung the artwork, clumped together in tight group-lets, with one above the other. That way they could fit more pictures in the space – 45 out of the 51 illustrations from my new book, Pocketful of Posies.

Pocketful of Posies at the Danforth Museum

The museum’s director, Katherine French, worked up to the last-minute, transferring the title onto the wall.

It was great to see my friend, artist and doll maker, Mimi Kirchner at the opening! We’ve known each other for 30 years and her long-standing and popular blog Doll was the inspiration behind starting one of my own a year ago.

I met a museum docent, a young fellow who had not been exposed to these nursery rhymes during his childhood in India. He was so taken with the artwork, that he wanted to learn all of the rhymes from the book. He asked me about my use of wavy borders and commented on the soft curves and lack of straight lines in the pictures. He said, “Looking at these pictures makes me happy.”

I felt honored that Betsy Groban, the publisher of Houghton Mifflin Books for Children came to see the artwork. She had seen some originals briefly a few years ago when I brought them into the office in Boston, but hadn’t seen them since. She let me know how pleased she was to be publishing my book, which really made me feel great!

The book’s designer, Sheila Smallwood also came, with her husband and daughters.

Many saw my work for the first time. They had come to the museum for other exhibits and just happened to come into the children’s gallery. It was fun to watch people of all ages look from a distance and then be drawn in to examine the pictures more closely. It is most satisfying to see grown men’s delight in viewing the work. In the years that I’ve been stitching, I’ve become conscious of the tendency to put textiles in the “women’s work” category, as if handwork wasn’t worthy of recognition. I say that stitching is just a technique and a way of translating ideas. After meeting and talking with people, I feel as if this book has jumped through age and gender barriers.

This woman walked around the room, singing the rhymes to her child. I hope that some of you will come see the show!

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In the Heart giveaway

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This blog is a year old today! See the first post here. To celebrate, I’m offering a giveaway (international, too) of my 2001 picture book, In the Heart. Please leave a comment by Nov. 21st and I will pick 3 people at random to each win a copy. The book is out-of-print, but some are still available at my local bookstore, Eight Cousins Books. Call them at 508-548-5548 to order autographed copies.

detail from page 9, "In the Heart"

Don’t think I knit these sweaters and pants! They were cut out of socks.

detail from page 16, "In the Heart"

last spread from "In the Heart"

Waldorf School Holiday Faire

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’ll be signing books at the Waldorf School of Cape Cod’s Holiday Faire on Saturday, Nov. 20th from 12 noon to 2pm. When my children attended the school 20 years ago, this event was our pride and joy. Then and now, parents, faculty and students put months of creative energy into making the day memorable for all who attend. The poster I designed years ago is still being used. I want to see the popular Excalibur Challenge, where children meet Merlin and have a go at pulling the sword from the stone!

There will be craft vendors and lots of activities for children, including crafts and games. The school’s store, Kindercraft, sells the naturally dyed wool felt that I use in my artwork. I’ll be writing more about this felt in a later post.

wool yarn and felt at Kindercaft store

This year’s fair will be at the school’s new location in Cotuit. Last winter, I helped color the walls with the lazure method of applying paint like watercolor, in graduated hues. Here are some classrooms all set up after we painted them. The whole building will be transformed into a magical environment for the Holiday Faire on Saturday.

Waldorf School of Cape Cod's Grade 1 classroom

nursery classroom

Reminder: I will be doing a story time at the Sandwich Public Library on Tuesday, Nov. 16th at 10:30am. I’ll also be talking about and signing copies of my new nursery rhyme book, Pocketful of Posies.

“Posies” front cover

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Salley Mavor

detail from “Pocketful of Posies”

When we first started talking about the front cover for Pocketful of Posies, the editors and I didn’t yet have a title. We were a few years into the project when one of the members of the production team suggested that I incorporate the title and byline into my artwork, thereby stitching the letters instead of dropping in the usual type set words. After going back and forth with title ideas for several months, someone from Houghton Mifflin came up with a name we all liked, Pocketful of Posies. We added the subtitle A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes to emphasize that this was a collection of rhymes, rather than a story book.

My first drawing for the cover had a circling group of characters from the book, echoing the ring around the rosies theme. I presented it to the powers that be and it and was asked to try again. No problem, I needed try something different. The design was too balanced and straight forward and, well, too boring and static for a cover, which should be dynamic. When it comes to sales, books are judged by their cover, especially picture books. People should feel the compulsion to open the book and look inside!

I decided to keep some of the characters, but had them doing different actions in a natural environment. I played around with angles and curves, adding large leaves to separate the sub-title and by line. I decided to enclose the action with a border and bendy, circular vines, which move your eye around inside the picture.

Some of the characters were removed in the process of translating this final sketch into the finished sewn illustration. I never know how things are going to turn out until I start cutting out shapes and constructing dolls. I made sure that both boys and girls were represented, as I didn’t want my sewn artwork to come across as too girly centric.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the letters, but I wanted to try something that had depth, so that the title would pop out. I figured that if it didn’t work, the graphic designers could always type set the words. I found some titles done in a nice flowing script in a book my mother had as a child, Chimney Corner Stories, by Lois Lenski. I liked the way the P looked, which featured prominently in my title, so I used this lettering as a guide.

from “Chimney Corner Stories” 1925

Using green cloth-wrapped florist wire, I wrote out the words by bending the wire to form the connecting letters. I then wrapped the wire by hand with 2 ply variegated embroidery floss. I don’t really remember how I finished off the ends, but probably made knots at the back (no glue). The picture below shows my first attempts at bending and wrapping. I had to try different ways of compressing the U and Y, so that the words could all fit on the leaves. I also changed the floss color to something lighter, so there would be more contrast with the green leaf background.

Besides the title, the cover illustration has a lot of other thread wrapped wire. The stems, vines and every leaf are edged with wire, making it possible to bend and shape the parts, tweaking until the last-minute, when the photograph is taken. See other posts with wire lettering here and here. I used red felt for the background, so that the green leaves and vines would stand out. Also, many of my recent books have had blue covers and I wanted something different.

Pocketful of Posies is sold in my Etsy Shop and includes a free bonus copy of my 2001 book In the Heart.

detail of “Pocketful of Posies” front cover

talk at Sandwich Library

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Titcomb’s Bookshop has arranged for me to come and talk about my books at the Sandwich Public Library on Cape Cod next week. The event will be held on Tuesday Nov. 16th, from 10:30am to 11:30am. I will read from my books and talk about my illustrations. I’ll also bring along some original fabric relief artwork, including some from my board books, Hey! Diddle, Diddle and Wee Willie Winkie.

Detail from Wee Willie Winkie, "Are the children in their beds?'

Titcomb’s Bookshop will be selling Pocketful of Posies at the event, which I will be happy to sign. One person has said, “This is a nursery rhyme book to keep until you’re old and doddering”, so it’s not just for children!

“Posies” exhibit at the Danforth

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I delivered my artwork to the next location in the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit. 45 original fabric relief illustrations from the book will be on display in the children’s gallery at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. from Nov. 14th to Jan. 23rd. First, Rob and I went to Highfield with a huge role of bubble wrap and packed the artwork into our car.

That evening, I individually wrapped each frame in bubble wrap.

The next day my husband and I drove our Passat wagon with the 50 bubble wrapped frames filling the car to the ceiling. We headed off Cape and up Rt. 128 to the Danforth Museum in Framingham. The museum staff will hang the show this week and be ready for the opening on Saturday.

The exhibit’s opening reception will be on Sat., Nov. 13th from 6:00-8:00. All are welcome. I’ll be going back on Sunday, Dec. 5th to sign books at 1:30pm. The Danforth Museum will also be hosting their monthly Drop Into Art Family Tours and Activities on Dec. 5th from 2pm to 4pm. (learn more) I hope that many of you from New England will come see the show!

One picture will not be part of the show. Molly, my sister and I is on display in New York City at the Society of Illustrators until Nov. 24th. My picture is the only 3 dimensional piece in the Original Art 2010 show, which includes a juried selection of original illustrations from 129 children’s books published in 2010.

Molly My Sister and I, from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Woods Hole: doorways

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Salley Mavor

For the past few months, I’ve been riding my bike around Woods Hole, taking pictures and organizing them in different categories. It’s time to open the summer doorways file and share this selection, before the trees lose their leaves. This orange door and dusty gray-green trim are some of my favorite color combinations.

Buzzards Bay Ave., Woods Hole

Look through the window and see Buzzards Bay on the other side.

Gardiner Rd., Woods Hole

I love the mismatched doors of this gate.

Buzzards Bay Ave., Woods Hole

This house is the only family owned residence on a block taken over by academic buildings and science labs.

Albatros St., Woods Hole

A reminder of warmer days.

School St., Woods Hole

Close-ups (fall trees)

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Salley Mavor

We had our first frost last night and the crisp air really feels like fall. In this series of trees, I’ll explain a bit about how I made some of the parts. This first closeup is from Apple Orchard, an early piece (1992) which I wrote about in another blog post here. The apples are made from wooden beads, covered with a sheer red fabric.

Apple Orchard, fabric relief 1992

The apples from this illustration in Mary Had a Little Lamb, are made from small red wooden beads. The leaves are cut from larger artificial leaves and sewn to the end of thread wrapped wire branches.

detail from "Mary Had a Little Lamb" 1995

In this scene from In the Heart, the hearts and leaves on the lawn are painted with a home made stencil.

detail from "In the Heart" 2001

Here’s a fall tree from my board book version of Jack and Jill.

detail from "Jack and Jill" 2006

These last two are from my new book Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. They are illustrations from the rhymes “A wise old owl lived in an oak”…

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

and “Hush-a-bye-baby”.

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

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

Celeste’s class visits Highfield

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Last week, Celeste’s 3rd grade class from Mullen Hall School came to see my artwork at Highfield Hall in Falmouth. She and her Mom, Deb, have shared photos of some felt dolls that they saw in Istanbul last summer in an earlier post here. I’ve just received word that Highfield will host the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit again near the tail end of its three-year tour in Sept./Oct. of 2013. Also, for those who live close by and haven’t yet seen the show, it’s up an extra day, Mon., Nov. 1st from 10 to 4pm. I’ll be going in on Tuesday to pack up the pictures and then driving them up to the Danforth Museum in Framingham later this week. The good news is that they’ve decided to hang the whole show, instead of half, which was the original plan!

: Celeste and her Mom, Deb at Highfield

The class arrived with their teacher, Miss Paltze, and several parent chaperones. Deb had them sit on the floor, while she explained how they would be going on a scavenger hunt.

Deb is a teacher’s dream of a parent volunteer. Not only did she come up with the idea, but she made all of the laminated treasure cards. She made color copies of illustrations from the book and cut out different characters and objects from the rhyme scenes for the children to find.

: scavenger hunt cards

The children traveled from one room to the next in small groups, searching for and identifying items on their cards. I answered questions as they looked closely at the artwork and found surprises.

It was great fun and we all had a good time! The children even brought in found objects from home to give to me as a thank you gift. Thanks to Deb for making the event so memorable!

thank you gift of found objects

On Halloween

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Salley Mavor

There’s a poem by Aileen Fisher about Halloween in my 1997 book, You and Me: Poems of Friendship (see on my books page).

We mask our faces/and wear strange hats/and moan like witches/and screech like cats/and jump like goblins/and thump like elves/and almost manage to scare ourselves.

The book is long out of print, but used copies can be found on the internet. For the On Halloween illustration, I made a double page spread with children in costumes, holding trick or treating bags.

illustration from "You and Me:Poems of Friendship"

It’s pretty shocking to see the difference between the book’s printed illustration and the original 4×5 transparency below. The night sky is dyed velveteen, with the moon remaining white with the aid of painted hot wax. The poem’s title is hand embroidered in white on the dark blue velveteen. I don’t know why the brilliant blue didn’t reproduce on the printed page, or why I didn’t kick and scream about it. At the time, I wasn’t even disappointed and recognized the limitations of translating my artwork into a printed book. Maybe it’s because of experiences like this, that I can appreciate how well the photos appear in my new book, Pocketful of Posies. The production team at Houghton Mifflin really did an excellent job!

On Halloween from "You and Me: Poems of Friendship"

This sketch shows how different the final piece turned out. Originally, I had a Dad with a large group of costumed children approaching a porch.

sketch for Halloween illustration

I simplified the scene by taking out the Dad and reducing the number of trick or treaters.

An owl was added and the house was put in the distance with a lit window. The pumpkin is made of felt, with embroidered features in yellow.

I stitched a bark texture of embroidered dots and dashes to the silk tree trunk. All of the branches are made from thread wrapped wire. The background fabric is dyed with a spray bottle. See other fabric dyed this way in a blog post about my Noah’s Ark piece. I hope you all have a fun Halloween!