Adventures in Amherst

Now we’re really home!

Image and video hosting by TinyPic OfficeMouse learned all kinds of web-related goodness from the WebGod, Theo Black, who is a calm, ordinary sort of guy.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic While they discussed Flash and code and other things I do not understand, I mostly curled up in a corner with my revisions. But Theo insisted that I try out the Wii, which I had never seen before. Note to BH – we must not buy a Wii or I’ll never write another book. Addictive, to say the least.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic After they were done with the computer magic, OfficeMouse and I went to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This bug, disguised as a very hungry caterpillar, was in the parking lot.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic This is a quilt of the famous caterpillar in the lobby. Visitors are not allowed to take photographs in the exhibit galleries, obviously, so I can’t show you how wonderful they are. Three hours evaporated while we slowly walked through the exhibits and created our own masterpieces in the art room.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Mr. Carle painted these gorgeous, massive paintings for the front hall. We could have stood in front of them for hours, just lost in the color. I know gas is expensive, so you should carpool with some buddies and take a trip to this museum. Well worth the drive.

NPR has a wonderful interview with Eric Carle as well as a terrific slideshow of the man and his work.

Your fact of the day: Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, NY and credits his kindergarten teacher at a Syracuse public school with being the person who opened the door to his lifetime as an artist.

This reinforces my hunch that Central New York is a magical place for writers and artists. You should probably move here.

Although the polish on my final revision was calling, we were in the Amherst/Northampton region, and there was one more home of art we had to take in: the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton. Along with other cool stuff, there is a terrific collection of the work of children’s book illustrators there. Very satisfying.

Remember in my SCBWI-NE speech how I talked about the need to make time and space for art in your life? What artistic adventures have you gone on recently?

22 Replies to “Adventures in Amherst”

  1. I love the car, and how cool, my sister’s boyfriend went to college in Amherst:)
    My artistic adventure for the summer will be going to the beach next week and working on my novel and reading books for school next year while my sister studies for the NY bar. I think I’ll be able to get more done there. 🙂

  2. This morning we’re off to San Diego to see the natural art of its animal wonders, but on the way we’re stopping in Santa Ana at The Bowers Museum(www.bowers.org) to see Qin Shi Huangdi’s terracotta soldiers. I can’t wait, even if it will be one of the most expensive stops all trip.

  3. I am not sure if you would classify this as an artistic adventure but I spent the entire day on Sunday roaming in antique stores. To me this is like spending the day at a museum.

  4. on the artistic adventures note, we’re going to MN in july to visit my uncle, so i’m planning to take in all the sights there and write about them and take pictures of them. i’m thinking that counts as artistic lol. by the way the bowling game for wii is the one i always play because it’s the easiest lol. i know, it is very addicting. we have a wii but my sister’s the only one that uses it right now and the only games she plays are guitar hero and dance dance revolution with her boyfriend lol. and i loved the picture of the car disguised as the very hungry caterpillar lol. glad you had a fun day in MA and i hope you and the officemouse have a safe trip back to NY too! =) ♥

  5. my artistic adventures are primarily theatrical. this past semester was my diectorial debut – college shakespeare players present “a midsummer night’s dream!” i was in charge of sets and costmes and was a codirector in terms of the acting side. and of course before, during, and since that, i have been rereading one of my fav series, and doing some painting and such. oh and last week, i rearranged the living room for mom – she wanted the seating arrangement to center around the fireplace. (at least, i think those are all artistic…?)

  6. artistic adventures

    I just spent the weekend in Dublin, at the end of a trip to Ireland. Monday was Bloomsday, so HH, BD, and I wandered the city on the trail of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. We didn’t take an official, costumed tour, although we ran into one, both at the Joyce Center and on Wicklow Street.

    While we were in Dublin we also saw the Book of Kells, various selections of the Chester Beatty collection of book arts–jade books, scrolls, Islamic books, silver bindings from the Middle Ages and Renaissance and on and on. One image that sticks in my mind is a “nota bene” –a beautifully drawn pointing finger/hand/arm ending in a swirl that was in the margin of a medieval book, pointing to something the way we’d make an arrow or stick a Post-It.

    While those were all very cool, the absolute height of the trip might be hearing a contemporary harpist in concert at Ormond Castle (think Anne Boleyn) and then seeing the original instrument hers was copied from in the Long Room at Trinity College. This sort of harp is played with fingernails, not the finger tips, and is strung with gold, silver, and brass, not gut.

    Mmmmm. I wanna go back!!

  7. You can honestly say “every now and then”.

    The occasional flurries we experience here lead to tremendous bursts of creativity from people snowed in their homes and fed up with the television.

    You might also consider promising her a team of sled dogs. They’re loads of fun.

  8. My high school had an art show last week so I volunteered to do admissions. Afterwards, I spent a good hour looking at all of the pieces and wishing I had that kind of talent. Some of the stuff was absolutely amazing.

  9. “This reinforces my hunch that Central New York is a magical place for writers and artists.”

    Speaking as a Syracuse-based writer (and teacher), I heartily agree.

    Love that Love Bug, btw.

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