New York follow up

Let’s jump into the time machine and with a whir and a wiggle, jump and jiggle back to last Thursday. There I am in the fifth row of the Minkoff Theatre watching the Lion King. A show I’ve wanted to see for its puppetry and stage design. After the show, our group of SCBWI Regional Advisors got to go back stage and talk to the cast. An amazing experience.

Friday brought the illustrators’ intensive. The highlights of the day were hearing Jerry Pinkney talk about his lovely realistic watercolors and seeing the New Yorker cartoons and children’s work of Harry Bliss. Also, the marketing and publicity role play by the Scholastic team was informative and engaging. As a conference planner myself, I have to mention that the schedule was less than comfortable. We sat in the same room listening to others talk at us all day with no scheduled break. Lunch was on our own which is okay, but the portfolio drop off was at the same time so we had about a half hour to find something to eat. I went with the longest line at a street vendor and picked correctly. Great gyros!

Saturday and Sunday were filled with people and speakers. Lin Oliver kept it lite even through a minor emergency. There was a fire in the laundry chute which we didn’t really know until later in the day. When the warnings started I was on the top, 44th floor of the hotel and walked down quickly, That’s a lot of stairs! We were not required to evacuate but I wasn’t going to be up there if there was a real problem. Nikki Grimes’s  work blows my socks off and I was thrilled to hear her give voice to her rhythmic poetry. David Wiesner, multi-Caldecott winner, was relaxed as he showed us his early kid work and professional process. Wow. Just wow.

Coming home was not in the luxury of a time machine but on the Amtrak and then driving my van to pick up children and drive the long road home from Providence, RI to Maine. Monday after my trip was a wash, Tuesday I wrote twelve thank you letters and tried to help with the last edits on the SCBWI-NE conference brochure, Wednesday my children were home for a snow day and the dining room table was Valentine production central, today I’m trying to catch up on my colored pencil class homework and laundry. Tonight, after class, I pack up my children and myself and we are on a plane to Memphis tomorrow early to visit my hubby who is working with the navy for two months. ACK!  This chaos is why I’ve not posted about the end my lovely New York journey. Stay tuned for Memphis memories next week. Back to the time machine!

View Images from Anna’s New York Trip On Flickr

Lovelane Special Needs Horseback Riding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSpV-kmaC1k
Dear Friends,
I’m back from NYC and can’t wait to update you on the tail end of my trip. Speaking of tail end… I got this link for a video in my in-box while I was away and I’d love for you to watch it.

Delaney and her mother Erica, featured in the video, are close friends of mine. Delaney was born a few weeks early after a healthy pregnancy. Things quickly turned bad and Erica was rushed to a hospital with a NICU staff. It was touch-and-go for a while but now you can see the beautiful, strong and lovely nine year old child Delaney has become. Perhaps in your giving this year, you will remember Delaney and “her” horses.

Thanks,
Anna

The agent and the ballet

I have had an amazing couple of days in the big apple. Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen there are bound to be lots of smiles and maybe a squee or two.

On Tuesday, I was pleased to interview Cameron Dieck, and up and coming 19 year old from Mount Cisco, New York who has been dancing since the age of 3. He entered the School of American Ballet his fifth grade year and has had his eye set on the New York City Ballet ever since. He was the recipient of the 2007 Mae L. Wien award for outstanding promise. Cameron is  on the far right with the other young people.

Below is an excerpt from my notes of the experience:
“The teachers break room at the School of American Ballet (SAB) is furnished with modern furniture: strong lines, steel and chrome are joined with grey and black cube inspired furniture. The young man seated across from me is the opposite of his surroundings. Tall, a little over six feet, Cameron Dieck sits folded into a couch in a cozy maroon Harvard sweatshirt and jeans that accent his lean long legs. He has an infectious grin and sparkling eyes that light up when he talks about ballet and cloud over when he discusses the bullying he had to endure in middle school because of his love for dance. Our interview was more of a conversation and lasted for about an hour. These are the best interviews of all. Cameron is intelligent, well spoken and kind. I keep wondering if he is this way with all reporters or if we’ve so quickly become friends.”

Yesterday, I spent the day at SAB. Amy Bordy, the public relations person at SAB has been welcoming, friendly, and supportive and really opened the whole school to me. I know this is a treat and an honor and I am thankful beyond words. Amy took me on a tour of the school taking particular pride in the newly built additional studios which are suspended above two original studios that once had 30 (?) foot ceilings.
They each have deep, sprung floors and are surrounded by glass walls to take advantage of the huge windows in the original studio below. I also got to learn more about the residential program for students. Security is number one priority for the students who are sometimes as young as 12 in the summertime. Programing provided by the Residential Director helps build community, and integrates these talented young people into New York City safely. Many of their students are selected from a national audition tour so they have young people from all over who may be new to city living. After the tour, I was honored to observe the partnering class for advanced students taught by retired NYC dancer Jock Soto who is famous for his partnering techniques. More here. I will never watch ballet the same way again. His instruction was precise, demanding, and filled with examples from the everyday. Teaching 14 and 15 year olds is never easy. Teaching them to  create characters that understand the intricacies of relationships (including intimacy and sensuality) is near impossible but he did it all with a lovely sense of humor. The next class I saw was the 12 and 13 year olds. I was struck by their strength, centering and ability to remember the combinations. My kid can’t even remember the lunch box on the counter. The instructor John Stafford, principal dancer for the NYC ballet, was kind and gentle even when they lost focus. According to Balanchine, all music at SAB is live. The baby grand pianos are staffed by experienced accompanists who are able to pluck the perfect bit of music out of the air to go with the combinations that the instructors develop on the spot. If you are a boy interested in ballet SAB is the place to be.

I was a little star struck at meeting veteran ballerina and school administrator Kay Mazzo. I’m afraid I said little but “thank you so much,” over and over again. The thank you’s continued when Amy produced two press tickets to the NYC ballet for last night’s performance. My sister-in-law Sarah and I sat 10 rows back from the stage at dead center of the State Theatre at Lincoln Center. More here. We watched “Double Feature,” a homage to the black and white silent movies of the 20’s choreographed by broadway choreographer Susan Stroman. (The Producers, Young Frankenstein) One ballet was a melodrama the other a Buster Keaton type comedy and both were infused with humor and of course incredible dancing technique. While the choreography was not difficult for the dancers it must have been fun. The storyline required a bit of over acting which was fun to watch. Sets and costumes were all shades of black, white and grey and the occasional subtitles on the back screen completed the cinema feel.

I feel that I’ve gone on too long, but let me just say my meeting with Secret Agent Man (Don’t you love that song?) was so uplifting that I ended up on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building with the city wind in my hair. Everything looks rosy from up there.

On Sunday, I’ll go home, see my children and get to work feeling validated as an author/illustrator. Someone with good work to add to the world. But first, the conference…

Country Mouse goes to the big city

Day three in New York City and uptown, downtown and crosstown are starting to become part of my vocabulary. I’m also adapting to the Euro scheduling. In Maine, I go to bed at 9:30 and wake at 5:00 am. Here, nothing even opens until ten. I won’t bore you with the details but just give you a few highlights.

Yesterday, I met with the Creative Director of Clarion books. She was very kind to give me her time and her critque of my work was helpful and hopeful. The funny thing about critiques is that I don’t believe others tell us anything we don’t already know in our hearts. She wanted to see more energy and emotion in my work. This doesn’t surprise me as I’ve been working on capturing the energy of my sketches  in my final images. I was surprised to hear her say that I needed to work on the narrative quality of the images because that is something I think I’ve finally got. But the two are closely related so I think that as I master the emotional the story will also be more apparent. Most important, she said she’d like to see revisions and new work and that is the most any writer or illustrator can ask for in this business. Next I went to F,S, G and met with two lovely Assistant Editors. They currently work in the triangular Flatiron building and the security was interesting. I had to speak into a digital camera and say who I was and where I was going. When I got to their floor I had to call from outside their door to be let in. The editors were much more effusive about my work and would like to see more.

I was able to meet up with my childhood friend Michael Learmonth yesterday at the Books of Wonder children’s bookstore on 18th Street. Mike is great but the bookstore was even better. (smile) The collection of rare, and classic books was educational and fun to browse. I am a huge Crockett Johnson fan and I often wonder if his minimalist illustrations would get passed over in today’s technicolor market. Sometimes simplicity is more effective with children then the over-stimulation of many images that are published today. The bookstore also had wonderful original art and prints from illustrators. My favorites? A David McPhail watercolor and Mark Teagues paintings. I did take some pictures of the shop and will try to post them if my sister-in-law has a cable.

I’ll post about interviews and observations at School of American Ballet this Thursday!

Webwanderings

Sometimes my webwanderings and research for my ballet book link up with my webwanderings as a conference director. That’s how I came upon Mark Siegel’s blog posting on First Second Books blog. This is a great posting about character development. Short sweet and visual. Mark Siegel is the illustrator for the graphic novel To Dance, with the subtitle A Ballerina’s Story (Simon & Schuster/Atheneum) written by his wife Siena who danced at School of American Ballet with Balanchine.  The connection is that I’m trying to pull together a group of graphic novel folks for an Illustration Academy at the 2009 conference. For info on this year’s Illustration Academy, keep your eyes on the mailbox and at NESCBWI for the conference brochure. It will be posted and mailed in Mid-February.

In other news…
1. I got a digital voice recorder for my interviews in New York. My kids want to record burps and other such bodily functions, so I’ve had to hide the recorder.
2. My lovely writing partner gave me feedback on my first chapter yesterday. I had high hopes that she would look at it and say, “Oh this is perfect don’t change a thing.” I’m glad she didn’t. The revision is a million times better.
3. We got a storm of “wintery mix” here last night and my driveway is like a skating rink. Only down hill. Eek.
4. Balanced the check book yesterday.
5. Printing images for the portfolio today.

NYC trip looming

Here is a unique idea in the world of gallery shows. “Fill in the Blanks” marries art and performance art by providing canvases, frames and lumps of clay for artists to develop over the course of the show dates. Mary Brooking of the Maine Illustrators’ collective will be one of the featured artists.

I am busy prepping for my trip to New York. The SCBWI conference does not start until Friday, the 8th but I am going early to show my portfolio to Art Directors and do research at the New York Public Library and meet up with friends and family. A week away from home! ACK! I’ve thrown myself into a whirlwind of laundry, packing, and list making. Lists for portfolio revisions, lists for what to take, lists of addresses and phone numbers, subway maps, amtrak timetables… I like traveling, love the train, and can’t wait to visit the city but I am a little nervous too.

A list:
1. Remember to breathe
2. Work on Chapter 2, Ballet
3. Revise cat montage
4. Finalize portfolio, make sure you have 2, dummy books attached
5. Pack clothing
6. Pack sketch book, traveling drawing kit.
7. Confirm appointments
8. Mapquest directions for Providence train station
9. Highlight relevant subway routes.
10. Check on subway passcard for the week
11. Society of Illustration hours?
12. Breathe.

John Bisbee Opening

    Last night was the opening for Bright Common Spikes: The Sculpture of John Bisbee at the Portland Museum of Art. I happened to be in the museum a couple of weeks ago and met John as he was installing hundreds of flat metal pieces to the wall. John saw me watching his work and cheerfully introduced himself. John lives in my town and works in the art department of  Bowdoin college. Thin, athletic and 42, John has the spirit of Santa and the beard to match. He is effusive and welcoming and invited me to attend the opening. Last night, he paid as much attention to my six and eight year old as every other grown up who wanted to shake his hand. 
    Each metal sculpture in the show is fabricated from nails. In the piece I watched John install, the nails resemble sunbeams radiating from a center screw that mounts the piece against the wall. Unlike a kid’s drawing of a sunbeam or the original nail, the pieces are organic and curvy. One piece flows into the other. Some are mounted two layers against the wall and the result is a graceful intertwining lattice that winds it’s way up a huge three story wall. The piece is framed by the rectangular white spaces the artist has created by the absence of metal. My older son commented that the piece seemed to seep from the ceiling and drip down the wall.
    The opposite wall showed pieces that seemed to climb like vines and sprout from the wall on which they were hung. Spiky and twisted, these sculptures reminded us of the thorny vines that would have grown around Sleeping Beauty’s castle wall.
    The exhibit is extremely kid friendly. My younger son had fun finding patterns, and naming otherwise abstract designs. “This looks like bamboo.” When we viewed a huge airy ball of thin, welded nails he mentioned that he thought he could just roll it away. I asked if it would be heavy or light. He said light. In reality the piece probably weighed a ton but Bisbee has created a sculpture that uses white space as effectively as the skillfully welded nails that are his medium.
    Nails, a common object that anyone can relate to are turned into beautiful (yes beautiful) sculptures. I was constantly amazed that a nail, something so manufactured and tough, could evoke the feeling and look (Seed pods, cocoons, vines, a husk) of something organic.  The exhibit is on display from January 24th through March 23. If you need an excuse to come to Portland, this is it. Don’t forget to bring your children. After viewing the Bisbee exhibit you can take them to the Portland Children’s Museum next door.

Five things on a Saturday

1. It is amazing how normal things continue to happen even though extraordinary things dot the landscape of life. Preparing dinner, cleaning up after, walking the dog, carpooling children… these things still need to be done even though I’m staring at a contract from a lovely agent.
2. Because of snowdays and Martin Luther King Day my children will end up with only one full week of school in January. Those luck dogs. No wonder I’m behind on my blogging duties.
3. Anne Marie is right. (Of course) Just having the agent offer has given me a sense of purpose and time to create. No longer do I have to worry about where the proposal is going next or running to check my mailbox for rejections. I can concentrate on the project that is most important now and give it my full attention. I got so much done on Ballet yesterday.
4. My trip to NYC is fast approaching and I am so excited. If you are going to SCBWI-NY I hope to meet up with you. Leave me a comment. While I’m there, I’ll be able to meet with “my agent” (oooo, that sounds so sweet) and hopefully do more Ballet research at American Ballet Theatre and School of American Ballet. I’m crossing my fingers that I get to meet Angel Corella. (swoon)

5.When I get up at 5 am on a Saturday to work, my children (who refuse to get up at 7 am on school days) manage to wake up by 6:45 needing me.

What great friends I have!

First of all, thanks so much to all who sent their good wishes and happy vibes my way yesterday. I spent most of yesterday  in a day dreamy fog imagining book signings and (ack) interviews with Oprah. I’m just starting to calm down and doubt myself again. So much for artistic confidence. : )  I had a great figure drawing session today followed by an excellent writing partner meeting and a good haircut. Things do seem to be going my way.

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