Subject: July N.E.V.A. Newsetter
Date: July 7, 2006 6:02:47 PM EDT
To: wickedneva@comcast.net
Daddy's Girl
I'm excited to announce my first Library Artist Appearance for "Daddy's Girl", my first illustrated children's picture book. I think it's appropriate that this appearance is happening in my hometown of Raymond, NH at the Dudley Tucker Library! This library was a staple in my life growing up! I remember that I devoured every last one of their "Babysitter's Club" books, and then proceeded to reread them over and over again! The Dudley Tucker Library has grown a lot since then, and has a great children's book floor. I'm honored that they would ask me to read "Daddy's Girl" and I hope you can join me on Thursday, July 27 at 6:30pm. I will read "Daddy's Girl" and then do a few quick drawings that I will sign and give away randomly to some of the younger members of the audience. I will have plenty of copies of "Daddy's Girl" available for purchase as well, and I'll be sticking around to sign some books. Please call the Library for directions at 603-895-2633.
http://www.raymond-nh.com/html/library.htm
School Presentation
I had a very cool trip down memory lane a few weeks ago when I did a presentation on "Daddy's Girl" at my old Elementary School. The Lamprey River Elementary School in Raymond, NH asked me to do a presentation for grades 1-4 on the process of illustrating a book, to go along with their "Walmart Million Minute" reading challenge. I came up with a powerpoint presentation that took them through my adventure of illustrating "Daddy's Girl", and explaining how my love of books led me to this career. I had one grade at a time, in groups of about 100 kids, and at the end of each presentation I would hand signed copies of "Daddy's Girl" to all my old teachers, who were ALL still teaching there! My old Art Teacher, Mrs. Muller, is retiring this year, and I swear I got a little misty handing her my book. Each of my teachers looked exactly the same, and the only difference I noticed now was that I towered over most of them! They'll never truly know how each of them influenced my current career and happiness, but it was nice to say "thank you" to them personally and give their current students a little inspiration, Neva style! I would love to do more of these school appearances, so if you know of anyone who is looking for something like this next school year, you know where to find me!
Teaching
Summer has come at last and I am pooped! Teaching, working, and creating art has left me with a bit of desire for a nice long vacation! Since most kids will be too busy frolicking in the sun or taking classes at art camps, I've decided that now is a good time to take a break from teaching children's art classes at Kimball Jenkins. I will most likely be back in the Fall with more class offerings, and hopefully fully rested and recuperated. However, I WILL be teaching one teen and adult class at the Currier Art Center in Manchester this summer. That class is, Intro to Illustration and it starts next Monday and is filling up VERY fast, so if you're interested, sign up soon! You can register online at the Currier's website, or call 603-669-6144, ext. 122. The Currier Art Center and Kimball Jenkins School of Art both offer great summer classes and camps for every age and skill level, so I highly recommend you check out their websites. Don't forget to check out the "Teaching" section of my website frequently to find out what my students have been up to!
www.currier.org
www.kimballjenkins.com
Freelance Work
I just finished up the illustrations for NH Healthy Kids Annual Report, and will add it to the Past Projects section of my website as soon as I have a copy in my hands. In addition to that, I've been working very hard on the new design of the Currier Art Center's fall class brochure, which is now posted online on their website, and will be out in print form sometime in the middle of July!
www.currier.org
www.nhhealthykids.com
Chocolate Lovers Fantasy!
I just have to say...I love this event! This was my first year participating in NH Caregivers "Chocolate Lovers Fantasy" extravaganza, and it definitely lived up to its name! I was there for the four hours of the event, painting an original painting which will be auctioned off at next year's event. It was hard to concentrate on painting my cacao tree while all around me were happy people munching on chocolate samples! But I had a blast, met some very nice people, and ate some very good chocolate, and all the proceeds of this event went to NH Caregivers, which is a non-profit organization that helps the elderly and disabled maintain their independence and dignity through the spirit of volunteerism. The painting that I did this year is will be on the homepage of my website soon, and if you think it'd look good on your wall, you can bid on it online next year, and perhaps win it at the next Chocolate Lovers Fantasy!
For those of you who remember the hand painted blanket chest that I created for the Caregivers "Art of Caring" online-to-live auction event, keep your eyes on this newsletter for news of a hand painted cabinet that will be part of this year's event! I won't give away too much yet, but I'm very excited about this one!
www.caregiversnh.org
Business Card
Thanks to Alphagraphics in Manchester, NH, I now have a big box full of beautiful new business cards! The design came out great, and it makes me feel very official to finally have a quality business card to hand out. If you would like to request a business card, just drop me a line, or wait for your Christmas card!
My Big Brother
I know this is a business newsletter, but I just HAVE to mention my brother's wedding and wish him and my new sister-in-law CONGRATULATIONS! The wedding was beautiful, held in St. Thomas overlooking the ocean, and I have never seen the pair of them look so happy!
READ!
I've been addicted to Ebay lately, and have found some very cool children's books, illustrated by some notable illustrators. This month's recommendation is called Petunia, written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin. Roger was born in Switzerland and emigrated to the United States in 1925. During the Great Depression, Roger started to experiment with writing and illustrating children's books. His technique is beautiful line and color seperations, and are pretty bold for the time period. Petunia is about a silly goose who comes across a book, and since she heard Mr. Pumpkin, the farmer, say that "He who owns Books and loves them is wise," Petunia figures she can handle that! So she carries around her book, and loves the book, (never once opening the book), and becomes wiser, and she becomes prouder and prouder as she helps various farm animals "answer" their questions. As chaos follows her, Petunia's neck gets longer and longer as the proud silly goose leads them to a firecracker finale. In the end Petunia finally understands that to become wise, she must not only carry wisdom under her wing, but put it in her mind and heart....by learning to read. So that's what she does.
Cheers
As always, if you know of anyone in need of artistic talent, please feel free to give them my information. Thanks for reading this far, and stay tuned for more N.E.V.A. news next month.
Neva Austrew
N.E.V.A. or New Expressions of Visual Art