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It’s the July 09 issue of Highlights High Five.
This month’s recipe teaches you how to roll your own apple pies.
You know you want to. Don’t fight it.
John Maeda Meet ‘n’ Greet
Eric and I got to go to an open house of sorts at the renovated ALCO building on Valley Street in Providence. The American Locomotive Works used to be housed in this cavernous building, but this night, it was turned into a cool gallery/buffet/chat session.
It’s the first time we’ve heard RISD’s “new” President speak. At least in real life; he’s very available online: via the RISD blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
It was great to hear him in real life, because now it is very clear- this is a whole different kind of President for the school. He’s about as open and forthcoming as possible. Already he has started a major outreach to the greater RISD “family”, those of us out here in the working world, the alumni, parents, and anyone who wants to be involved. If you didn’t think you had a voice at the school before, I can honestly say I think you’ve got one now.
The houses and apparel pieces are by recent grads, I think. They looked great in this ginormous space!
I think RISD is in for some interesting times as it goes on with John Maeda there. It’s a good time to toss out ideas and be heard, despite the economy.
Sew Hip!
This is fun…some of my handmade bird dolls are currently featured in the magazine Sew Hip UK, a British sewing magazine, in the Print and Pattern section. My thanks to Bowie of Print and Pattern fame for making this happen. I love how this looks; I would be inclined to buy everything on these pages!
I’ve Been Stalked.
By EtsyStalker today!
One of my little balsam house sachets is up there now. What a nice job they do at, um, stalking. And curating collections!
Thanks, guys!
2009 Surtex, Stationery Show, ICFF, and Giant Rotating Lobsters
Where else but New York City! I just got back from a whirlwind 4-day stay in the Large Apple with some of my most excellent illustrating gal pals. Two of the aforementioned pals had their own booths at Surtex for the first time, and the rest of us went to cheer them on, help out, and walk the shows. Barb’s booth was bursting with licensing goodness:
And Monica’s was all a-flutter with fun freshness:
Barb and Monica did an AMAZING job of putting these booths together, they truly looked excellent! Surtex (or any show like this) can be grueling in terms of setup/breakdown, and manning the booth for the whole time. Way to go, girls, for managing this. We also got to see a bunch of other blog buddies and other illustrators, like Jannie Ho and Holli Conger. Very fun to see everyone converging in one place!
Laura and I also got to check out the ICFF/International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
Despite the name, there is no cotton candy or pig racing at this fair. You will, instead find things like this:
Lots of furniture, lighting concepts, and home fixtures of all kinds. I always like to check this show out since some of my Fred work falls into this genre of design. Speaking of design, here’s Laura in the fabulous Japanese pavillion:
Here’s one of Mary Beth’s two Louie-nominated greeting cards at the Stationery Show:
And OH! Look! Here’s Mary Beth with the actual Louie Award that she won! WooHoo! The Louies are given to the the best greeting cards of the previous year. MB’s cards were designed for the Museum of Modern Art, NYC.
Our hotel had excellent views of about a hundred water tanks!
And look at this ridiculously green rooftop garden amongst the grey. I never once saw anyone up there enjoying it!
As usual, you can never predict what you’ll see in New York.
Maybe you’ll see:
A ginormous button and needle. We couldn’t figure out the weird configuration of button holes on that button. Then we decided it was “art”.
I love this homage to the city’s immigrant garment workers!
Weeniemobiles…times three!
Giant rotating lobsta! And a chick in a bathing suit looking on. Weird.
Serious M&Ming going on at the 3-level M&M store…
Or, if you prefer your chocolate to be Hershey’s, just go across the street.
My hero George M. Cohan will gladly show you the way to any of the freaky sights in Times Square. Just be glad I didn’t take a picture of The Naked Cowboy.
One of my must-go-to-places in NYC…the giant Toys R Us, complete with Ferris wheel inside!
Life-size functional Tyrannosaurus? This is always amusing no matter how many times I’ve seen it.
Likewise insanely large things made out of Legos.
Speaking of which, look at these cool Harry Potter Lego guys in the FAO Schwarz:
To cap off the Surtex/NY experience, we went to Angelo’s in Little Italy for an amazing dinner. It was sort of like Federal Hill, but, um…more so!
We’ll be back next year to do it all again!
New Press This Month
Some interesting stuff has shown up recently…international-type stuff!
Here’s my Half Pint item written up in a Korean Magazine called DesignNet:
Aaaaand here’s Pizza Boss 3000 written up in a French Magazine called FHM:
Back here in the ol’ US of A, Salt and Playtime is in May’s issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray:
And here is this month’s Highlights High Five recipe illustrated by me…Pink Lemonade!
2009 NESCBWI Conference
That’s right! I just came back from this year’s New England SCBWI conference. This year’s theme was “Many Voices,” and that turned out to be very fitting! On Friday night, there were many voices at the Muse Jazz Club Meet & Greet:
Very fun to catch up with a lot of friends, and of course, to have that experience of saying,”Hmmm.I know I know you…where have we met before?” It happens a lot at this conference!
Here’s Barb Johansen Newman, Carlyn Beccia, Moi, and Maryann Cocca-Leffler. And a basket of snacks.
There a was a big wall to draw on. Here’s John Bell adding something to the wall near one of Barb’s famous kitties.
This year was different for me. I was a member of the “faculty,” and I had two presentations of my own to present on Saturday. So I did get to hear the keynoters, but mostly missed the other sessions! The morning keynote speaker was the fabulous Cynthia Lord:
What a way to start the day. She was very inspiring, talking about the power there is in personal stories. She gave excellent pointers on finding the emotions in your own experiences and integrating them into your work, even if your book is pure fantasy. The emotions involved in recalling real people and experiences can add the needed depth to your characters and stories. Everyone came away from this talk feeling inspired. Everyone.
I was able to catch most of Kirsten Cappy’s session on creating marketing plans for your books that tap into each story’s unique theme. The idea of creating an individualized marketing plan for each of your books is great, and she showed some very cool examples of others who had done this.
Here’s me becoming one with my first-ever Power Point presentation. My first session was called “Books and Beyond: The Many Markets for Children’s Illustration.” I was nervous. But then, I got to talk about all the stuff I love and have been doing for a long time: magazines, toys, fabric, stationery, licensing, and everything else that requires an illustrator with a knack for children’s art. It’s a big, big, world out there, and there was not really enough time to get into it all…but I did my best!
Barb, Janet Montecalvo, and me at lunch.
Let’s see, I think I can rememeber everyone at the table! Alice (A.C.E.) Bauer, Nicole Tadgell, Charlene Willing McManis (who had the best Native American jewelry ever), Alisa Libby (who has a book that actually bleeds!), Greg Fishbone (webmaster!), Barb, the unseen Janet Montecalvo (as seen above), and me.
The lunchtime keynote speaker was Floyd Cooper. Wow. Just wow. His work is luminous and stunning, and even though he did a piece right in front of us with a kneaded eraser, I can’t fathom how he does it. Check out his website. I appreciated that he has worked in many other genres, too.
My second session was called Fun Reads: Board Books and Other Novelty Formats. As you can see, my board book session was in the Board Room (very Donald Trump!). You can picture the chairs actually filled with people, right? Mildly intimidating! But again, I got to talk about that which I love, and I brought a lot of examples of books (both my own and others) to play around with. I pretty much ignored my Power Point presentation. Oops. I sort of forgot it was there. Oh, well, no matter!
Here’s the Diversity Panel: Louise May from Lee and Low, Bobbie Combs from Two Lives Publishing, Jennifer Laughran from Andrea Brown Literary, and Floyd Cooper. Moderated by Padma Venkatraman.What an excellent, topical discussion. It was good to hear “many voices” speaking up about the challenges and necessity of getting diverse books into kids’ hands.
Here’s the adorable Kathy Weller, with her prize-winning poster! I just adore this piece she did…a favorite of mine, and obviously a crowd favorite, too! Kathy also did a great rundown of the sessions she went to on her blog, WellerWishes. She also happen to go to one of my sessions, so you can read about it from the other side…thanks, Kathy!
I wrapped up Saturday at the booksigning…here’s me and Barb and our adoring throngs of fans…LOL!
I had a blast seeing everyone there, and I hope everyone had a great time on Sunday, too!
Next year’s conference will be at The Courtyard Marriott in Fitchburg, from May 14-16. Mark those calendars!
Whispering Pines Writer’s Retreat 2009
Once again, I had the good fortune of going to the Whispering Pines Writer’s Retreat at the Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich, RI. It’s not far from me, but a world away. The setting is more like something out of Maine.
Before anything happens there is food.
SCBWI’s Marilyn Salerno, editor mentor Sarah Shumway from Harper Collins, Barb Johansen-Newman, and author-illustrator mentor Maryann Cocca-Leffler.
The food is literally amazing here, and there’s plenty of it.
After dinner, Lynda gets the ball rolling with a First Pages panel.
Excellent readers!
The mentors: Author Ellen Wittlinger, Agent Anna Webman, Editor Jennifer Rees, and editor Sarah Shumway.
Here you can see the cozy fireplace room.
The girls sent me some mascots to keep me company over the weekend.
The next morning began with special helper awards.
Helper Sally Riley gets her trophy from Chief Organizer Lynda Hunt.
Laurie Murphy is at a loss for words…
Jan Kozlowski receives her very special award.
Jennifer Rees shared her editing process with us, and showed us some great examples of recent books from Scholastic.
Author Ellen Wittlinger read us some inspiring passages from well-written books, and at least 3 important points to think about in our writing!
Here is Sarah Shumway at her very cool podium giving us the lo-down about working at Harper Collins.
Laura’s trying to decide which way to go.
The view from the porch.
Mentor books for sale!
Another fabulous dinner! Honestly, it’s consistently the best food ever to be had at events like these.
Pictured here: Laura Fry, Laurie Murphy, Debra Wainwright, Maryann Cocca-Leffler, Lynda Mulally Hunt, Barb Johansen Newman, Jan Kozlowski, Mary Pierce.
After dinner, it was time for another rollicking session of First Pages!
The official mentor lineup shot!
Jennifer Rees, Maryann Cocca-Leffler, Anna Webman, Sarah Shumway, Ellen Wittlinger.
After hours fun at Laurel! Here’s Jan doing her best Vanna White impression with a fine array of themed baskets to be raffled off.
Cheers! Somehow there are always colorful beverages involved in the evening’s events.
Mary brought along Cadbury Creme Eggs. Not just the smaller, wimpier American ones, but the bigger, better British ones! This finally laid to rest the mystery of the incredible shrinking Cadbury Eggs. Americans should protest. Bring back the original sized eggs! Thanks to Mary for all the spare British ones…we’re loving them!
After another night of late-night chatting, the next day started with Barb introducing Maryann Cocca-Leffler.
Maryann has channeled all of her life experiences into her stories, and has used her winning personality and chutzpah to successfully navigate the minefield known as children’s publishing. Very inspiring.
New to the festivities this year: Children’s Book Jeopardy!
Lynda Trebek shot out the questions, and teams had only 15 seconds to guess them. Not easy!
Team 4 gets it right!
Anna Webman from the Curtis Brown Agency spoke next, shedding some light on what agents do.
Maryann signs her books for lucky children (and adults)!
The last of the themed baskets were raffled off, signifying the end of another fabulous retreat.
Basket cases!
A final look at the Whispering Pines:
See you next year!
If you’re nostalgic for retreats from previous years, follow the links:
Magazine Mayhem!
Here are a few new items currently on the shelves:
April’s Highlights High Five has Deviled Eggs!
And after you’ve made yourself some nice deviled eggs, sit back with April’s Rachael Ray magazine and check out this:
There’s “Calf and Half” again!
I have to hand it to Rach and her “people”…they do find fun stuff for the magazine. Look at the knitted fruit! And the adorable Mary Jane wellies! On the same page is a product by my friend Christy, too…”Pound,” a set of nails for driving into your finger food (not your fingers). How constructive!
I have a bunch of fun new items starting to pop up here and there-
I’ll show you some of them soon.
I’ve had A LOT of work lately, so sometimes the blog gets the cold shoulder!
And by the way, Happy St. Pat’s Day!
Tell Some Stories
Here’s a new feature illustrated by me in the March ’09 issue of
Highlights High Five Magazine:
It’s on your newsstands now!
Are there even any newsstands left??