Brussels+Montreuil road trip...

Just a quick reminder that Sàrmede's "Immagini della fantasia" exhibit will now be on display in Brussels.  At the European Parliament!  The opening takes place tonight at 18:00, at the ASP area on the third floor (balcony side).  Definitely worth a peek, if you're in the neighbourhood... I wish I could be there too! (more details, here).

And if you still need something more to do— well, you could always drop in to Montreuil: the Salon du Livre Jeunesse begins tomorrow morning, 9:00 sharp! 

Have fun!!

PS.  The beautiful poster/invitation for Immagini della fantasia is by Octavia Monaco

Tales from Russia

I'm very pleased to announce that my artwork has been selected for Sàrmede's Le Immagini della Fantasia exhibit.  The theme this time is "Tales from Russia"— a topic and visual culture that I find especially inspiring.  I chose to illustrate a scene from The Firebird.

The exhibit is a fantastic gathering of talent from around the world —over 350 illustrations by a real dream team* of illustrators! Needless to say, I'm very honoured to be included among them. A big grazie to Monica Monachesi for extending the invitation.

This year's edition of Le immagini della Fantasia is not only the 30th anniversary, but also the grand opening of the long-awaited Casa della Fantasia, a new building which will house the exhibit space and art workshops. So expect even more celebrations and activities than usual — including readings, workshops, and meetings with the artists including Roberto Innocenti, this year's guest of honour.

The exhibit opens on 27 October and runs through to 27 January 2013, after which it will go on tour in Italy and across Europe and beyond. It's well worth a visit — I would go if I could.  Check the site for address and hours... highly recommended!

PS.  *Dream team includes:  Beatrice Alemagna, Joëlle Jolivet, Javier Zabala, Violeta Lopiz, Simone Rea, Morteza Zahedi and many many others, all of them fabulous...

Immagini della fantasia

Le immagini della fantasia—the 29th annual exhibit of children's book illustration—is now in full swing.  I am happy to say that I was able to go to Sàrmede to attend the opening.



The guest of honour this year is Linda Wolfsgruber —who is also the creator of the poster above. Indeed,  there was a mini-retrospective of her work within the overall exhibition, from her earliest picture books to her more recent prints. It was a real treat to see the originals, they are stunning and luminous.

Altogether, over 300 images are on display, by illustrators from all over the world.  Some of the illustrations can be seen here and here.  The theme this year, as you can see, is Tales from India.



These 300+ images also had work from students and newcomers to the world of children's books, including me.  My illustration (mentioned previously) can be seen in the photo below.  Click here for a closer look at it and other work from newcomers.



All in all, a very good crowd turned out to attend not only the opening but a whole weekend of workshops, entertainments, encounters (including a very thought-provoking panel discussion with half a dozen of the artists), and other events.

Some of the illustrators who were able to make it to the opening weekend included: Simone Rea, Guido Scarabottolo, AnnaLaura Cantone, Alessandra Vitelli, Gabriele Clima and of course Linda — among many others.  Rock stars! ;-) I was also happy to catch up with friends and class-mates whose work was selected in this exhibit, notably Rossana Bossu, Laura Borras, Olga Tranchini and Francesca Zoboli. Good to see all of you...

The exhibit will be in Sàrmede until 15 January, and after that it goes on tour. The details will be on the website, but in general it goes first to other cities in Italy (Rome, Florence, Naples, Bologna for the book fair) and then all over Europe (Barcelona, Vienna, Paris, Stuttgart...) — and beyond (Florida and Istanbul)!!

Catch it if you can — highly recommended (even if I do say so myself!).

PS.  See here for more pics of the opening, and here for a few more views of Sàrmede.

Tales of India

I just found out that my illustration has been selected for Sàrmede's upcoming exhibition, "Le Immagini della Fantasia".

It is one I created while I was at the workshops last summer, under the tutelage of Svjetlan Junakovich.

The theme this year is "Tales of India" and illustrators from all over the world will be participating, including: Philip Giordano, Tom Schamp, Clotilde Perrin, Aurelia Fronty, Sherley Freudenreich and many many others (click here for the full line-up).  

This year's guest of honour is lovely Linda Wolfsgruber.  And furthermore, Simone Rea has created this year's display of "How a book is born" ("Como nasce un libro illustrato") — in which he creates several large panels describing (in both images and words) the steps that went into making his most recent book "Favole" ("Aesop's Fables"). These are always included in the Sàrmede annual.

Best of all:  another road trip to Italy when I was least expecting it!! WOO-HOO!!!

Sàrmede, again

Following on from my last entry, here's a quick postscript with a little bit more about the teachers — and the students — of Sàrmede.

Linda Wolfgruber's work (like this image above, from  Finn's Land) is expressive, refined and full of wonderful surprises.

Her spare and evocative compositions allow enough room for your  imagination to enter and find its own way...

I especially love these skating ducks!

Svjetlan Junakovic is prolific and exuberant...

Have a look at his site...

...and this nice write-up from Animalarium

The image above is from his Big Book of Animal Portraits (Gran libro de los retratos de animales, from OQO). That book won him a special mention from the Bologna Book Fair in 2008.

He has recently begun to make these sculptures, too.

Self-portrait with birds

As for the former students,  many of the people who have been taught at Sarmede's workshops  have blossomed into some of the best illustrators of the up-and-coming generation.

Here are a few (there are many more, obviously — and many yet to come!):

Simone Rea (who studied with Linda)

Violeta Lopiz (who studied with both Linda and Jozef Wilkon)

Adolfo Serra

and the incomparable Beatrice Alemagna....

....who took courses taught by Stepan Zavrel himself, back when the workshops were held in Zavrel's house.

How lucky can you get!

Sàrmede in summer

I spent part of last summer at the art workshops of Sàrmede (pictured in the fresco above, by Jozef Wilkon). For those unfamiliar with it, Sàrmede is in northern Italy, in the hilly region at the foothills of the Dolomites about 70 KM north of Venice. Not the kind of place you'd expect to find an international illustration exhibit —nor, more to the point, a highly respected school of illustration. One way or the other, this calm green corner of Italy attracts artists and students from the world over.

Workshops are held from April to September, covering a good variety of techniques— everything from acrylics and gouache, to watercolour, egg tempera and all kinds of printmaking.  What they all have in common is a focus on some aspect of children's book illustration: storyboarding/visual narrative to making a composition work (graphically, chromatically and otherwise) to character studies.  All the elements of vocabulary needed for the language of illustration. An embarrassment of riches!

I ended up taking two courses, with Linda Wolfsgruber and with Svjetlan Junakovic —both of whom I have long admired as artists, and now appreciate as teachers.  Each one with their own style (both in art and in teaching) they succeed in getting the best out of us students, whether it was in struggles with the medium or in our search for a personal style. I really got a lot out of my time with them!

Mind you, the other teachers there also come highly recommended— including Chiara Carrer, Eva Montanari, Simona Mulazzani, Octavia Monaco, to name but a few: the crème de la crème of children's illustration! If you don't already know their work, do click!!

Svjetlan's workshop focussed on acrylics.  One of the topics for illustration was "Tales from India", which is the theme of this year's exhibit.

     

In Linda's workshop, the technique focussed upon was printmaking —monoprints, mixed media and collage. The subject was "Rodari and his tales"— using Gianni Rodari's wonderful stories, or his creative approaches (eg, the binomio fantastico) as outlined in La Grammatica della Fantasia (English version here).

In addition to the coursework, we had a few extracurricular treats, including visits from publishers (Andrea Rauch from Principi e Principi, and earlier in the season Topipittori).  We also got to see a mesmerizing documentary film (directed by Karl Bachmann) about Stepan Zavrel, the wonderful Czech illustrator who founded the school /exhibit.  And best of all, we had our end-of-term party at Stepan Zavrel's magical home— unforgettable!!

All in all,  these workshops had an atmosphere just fizzing with energy and enthusiasm and concentration, much more intense than art school. More than one person remarked that it was like being in another dimension...

And of course, you learn a lot from the other students — the people I was with came from as far afield as Tblisi, Sao Paolo, Vienna, Bangkok, Barcelona, Wales, as well as all over Italy (there were up to 7 languages flying around at any given moment!). Ranging from 19 to 70 years old, with all kinds of experiences:  published book illustrators, seasoned print-makers, art students, teachers, graphic designers... the lot!  There was a real esprit de corps — an atmosphere of camaraderie and generous exchange.  For those of us in this solitary profession, it comes as a real source of energy.

I'll be back, Sàrmede!

PS.  If you want to see more photos, look here.