May 7, 2024
You’ve been publishing art books for over 15 years, and many of these were spent working with living artists on monographs / catalogs dedicated to their work. What drew you to kids books specifically?
A lot of the publishing I've been involved in has been focused on storytelling; you might not think of an art book as telling a story but it normally is—one about a career, an exhibition, a body of work, a creative moment. These books make the art world more accessible. You can bring the work home in book form even if you can’t hang it on your wall. But I am aware that we are often speaking to an audience who already knows they are interested in art.
With children’s books, we have the opportunity to speak to an age group that wants to know how everything works and why things happen. More than most adults, I find that children want to soak up information and are interested in pretty much everything in an equal way. My question became: How do we inspire children to value, appreciate, and love art from early on?
And what inspired I Am an Artist in particular?
Rose and I decided that this second book could look at some fundamental questions of what art is and what artists do. We were excited to open up the idea that there are types of art beyond painting and sculpture. I asked my ten-year-old niece—she’s one of these children who kind of leaves trails of artwork behind her wherever she goes—whether she would read a draft of my next book. Halfway through reading it, she turned around and said “I had no idea there are this many types of artists!” This showed me that the book was needed. Even a ten-year-old who already has an established interest, who has gone to many museums, didn't really understand the many different directions you can take your creativity.
This is your second time working with the illustrator Rose Blake. Can you tell us about her and her work and what your process of collaborating together is?
Rose truly brings even more than her brilliant artwork to our collaboration. She grew up in the art world, she was raised by two artists, and she has been surrounded by creative people her whole life. I had seen a book that she illustrated and was drawn to her unique style. Her work speaks to children and adults, I think, equally. When we met it was just this buzz of an instant connection, a speedy friendship, and a shared vision.
I love how we work together—it really is an exchange of ideas. I create storyboards for the book with broad themes and notes about the action that will take place, plus photos I have taken over the course of my career and things I've been drawn to, which Rose may use as a starting point. I love waiting for each illustration to arrive; I have a sense of what it might be, but I am normally surprised by the direction Rose takes. It honestly is so much fun to work together.
This is the second book in the series How Art Works. Can you talk about the inspiration and concept behind it all—what inspired it, what you hope comes out of it, how you hope people read it?
I keep coming back to the idea that there are so many different ways of being creative, either as a professional or by incorporating creativity into your life. And of course, the series name is a play on “artworks”!
The books in our series are quite different; a lot of children’s art books focus on the biography of a singular artist, or they're centered around a set of facts. How Art Works is narrative nonfiction and is intended to be read much more as a story. We try to bring the characters to life rather than providing the definition of a museum or a description of the stages of glassblowing. Amazingly, once we finished I Am an Artist, we realized that we have actually created an entire cast of characters that we want to get to know even better.
You’re a mother of two - do you get input or inspiration from your kids when you’re making kids books?
My kids truly inform and inspire what I do, and I find that I am speaking to them through these books. Tristan, my son, is a very process-based child, which is part of how Making a Great Exhibition came to be. He really will sit in a theater and say, “Who's doing the lights?”, “How does the orchestra know when to play?”; he wants to know how it happens. And Thea, my daughter, is very creative and focused on making things. She, however, tends toward perfectionism even at the age of five. So I wanted this book to speak to that impulse. I wanted to show that you don't have to be able to draw a person perfectly to be an artist or to express yourself, and that it is good to get messy, leave things to chance, and see what you end up with.
Because you've worked with so many artists and seen so many shows at the gallery, is there any moment or anecdote of working with someone that influenced the way that you think or the way that you define what an artist is?
I'm inspired all the time by the artists we work with at the gallery and beyond. Bridget Riley sees everything in a completely different way than everybody else. I have been so influenced by how she thinks about light, color, and composition, but also experimentation, chance, and observation. She has created a whole new way of looking.
Recently, I've been looking at Dana Schutz, who is known for her surrealistic, rhapsodic paintings, but who wanted to try making a giant sculpture from clay. She wasn't sure how it would work, how to do it, and even if it would look good in the end, but she wanted a challenge. Then there is Ruth Asawa. On top of the beauty and ingenuity of her work, she also was a proud mother and an advocate for arts education in public schools. Achieving what she did in any of these areas is impressive on its own, but intertwining these strands so naturally has been a true influence to me.
How can museums and galleries better foster an inviting environment for families and children?
I am increasingly aware how privileged I am to feel comfortable bringing my two children to museums and galleries and to know that we are welcome there. Many people and parents are intimidated by the idea of entering these spaces, yet a lot of museums want this type of visitor. In hosting family events, Zwirner has started to show that everyone is welcome.
Through the series, I am also speaking to the parents who are reading the books aloud. I want them to understand that not only is it ok for your kid to be creative, it should be encouraged. Children's books have this duality. They are geared to the person who's hearing the story read aloud, but the person who's reading is also learning right alongside them.