winter fairy

Curtis Moffat (1887-1949), 'Dragonfly', about 1930.

picture book manifesto - USA

We are tired of hearing the picture book is in trouble, and tired of pretending it is not. And so:

WE BELIEVE

- Imitation, laziness, and timidity are poisoning a great art form.

- A picture book should be fresh, honest, piquant, and beautiful.
- Children's books merit grown-up conversation.

- Grown-up conversation doesn't mean asking kids to leave the room.
- We write for children, adults who read with children, and adults who simply enjoy children's books—in that order.
- We should know our history.
- We must cease writing the same book again and again.
- We need a more robust criticism to keep us original.
- The line between author and illustrator is irrelevant. - The line between moral and meaning is paramount.
- It is right that anything a child sees, feels, or thinks be our grist.
- Picture books are a form, not a genre.
- Good design fosters good reading.
- Picture books look best when their covers face outward.
- The tidy ending is often dishonest.
- Even books meant to put kids to sleep should give them strange dreams.

WE CONDEMN
- The term "kid-friendly."
- Convention as crutch.
- Glossy paper as default.
- The amnesiacs who treasure unruly classics while praising the bland today.

WE PROCLAIM
 - Every day we make new children—let us also make new children’s books.

Signed: Mac Barnett, Brian Biggs, Sophie Blackall, Lisa Brown, Kevin Cornell, Carson Ellis, Isol, Laurie Keller, Jon Klassen, Matthew Myers, Tao Nyeu, Sean Qualls, Aaron Renier, Adam Rex, Christian Robinson, Dan Santat, Jon Scieszka, Erin E. Stead, Philip C. Stead, Lemony Snicket, Scott Teplin, Maria van Lieshout.

link: www.thepicturebook.co

via: http://www.facebook.com/thepicturebook

ps. c'est vrai ; )

... da bela dupla de moi j'attends.

she waits....

" Woman is the Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, she who receives and submits. In song and story the young man is seen departing adventurously in search of a woman; he slays the dragon, he battles giants; she is locked in a tower, a palace, a garden, a cave, she is chained to a rock, a captive, sound asleep: she waits."                

simone de beauvoir, the second sex.

img. carll cneut

a criança e as artes

Curso de Mestrado na Escola Superior de Educadores de Infância Maria Ulrich: inscrições abertas.

de composição de outono ( lisboa )

life... underwater

"The epic transition that this delicate creature undergoes gives hope as it expends energy on a huge scale to make it happen. Imagine if you would, the whole of your life changing to such an extreme where you are unrecognizable at the end of the transformation offers great hope to me.
Exploring these themes through the introduction of water; acting as both nurturer and destroyer, it has the power to cleanse and reinvent, or to drown and disappear. Believing that drawing on water’s transient and destructive nature exposes the fragility of life, and the temporary nature of our existence.
This series for me acts as a reflection on life and mortality; it is fleeting, beautiful and ultimately tragic."

"In his most recent series, ‘Vanitas’, Alexander James re-visits the works of the 17th century Dutch Masters. Using period props, food and real insects, he captures carefully staged underwater scenes 'in-camera' without the use of post production, either traditional or digital. Working with subtle distortions of light & movement from the waters own wave energy to create a unique and painterly effect. The subjects appear as if to be floating in a black space that neither interferes nor disrupts the subject matter, the collaboration within this void offering a serene and dreamlike sensation."

Impressionante o trabalho deste fotografo inglês. Ver mais e melhor, aqui.

publicamente, os livros infantis

como matéria de afectos, relações, projecto artístico e objecto de estudo.
Isso tudo, estes livros.

in revista do jornal Público de 2/10/2011.