Henry Darger

 

  via pichaus

One of my favorite artists ever is 20th-century outsider/self-taught artist Henry Darger. He worked with collage and watercolor and created his amazingly imaginative and striking pieces with tracings and clippings from everything from children's coloring books to local newspaper ads to religious images. He created an entire world for his "Vivian Girls" including a 15,000 page manuscript that chronicled their story. His work is a bit trendy right now (see Vivian girls tattoo here), but really deserves a lot more serious attention. Anyway, if you're in New York, you must go see the Darger collection at the American Folk Art Museum. If you want to learn more about his heartbreaking life and art, then rent the documentary In The Realms of the Unreal.

via SpillSpace.com

 via Art & Ghosts

 Untitled (Two Girls and a Dog Sitting in Garden), 1959 

 

 via abrio's websoil

via Brotherhood of Thieves

"One of the great ironies of my life is that...I am a writer for illiterates." - Mo Willems

image via guardian.co.uk

The quote which titles this post was spoken by Mo Willems, a children's book writer and illustrator, in a documentary about children's literature that's working the festival circuit right now called "Library of the Early Mind." It hasn't made it to NC quite yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will because it looks like it could be really interesting (see the trailer below and, fyi, don't get too put off by the somber music. I don't know if it creates the right mood for the movie, but here's hoping that the movie makers will still tweak with that element of the film).

Anyway, while I wait for this movie to come to me - if you are in LA or MA know that screenings are headed your way (lucky ducks!). For the rest of us there is the documentary's blog (http://childrenslitproject.wordpress.com/) to poke around in and find pleasure in the mini interviews excepted from the film with the likes of everyone from Jane Yolen to Daniel Handler (yep, that's the man who is also known as "Lemony Snicket").

via YouTube

Happy Monday

A smile for your Monday morning....or really any time of any day.



This documentary is set to release in May. I imagine it will be pretty fascinating, but if nothing else it will definitely provide moments of cheer.

documentaries in April

film stills from the documentary "Book of Miri"

One of the great things about living in the heart of North Carolina is the "Full Frame Documentary Film Festival," which is held annually every April in Durham, NC. Almost every time I go I end up not only discovering some great documentaries, but often one of my favorite movies of the year (last year it was "The Beaches of Agnès" and the year before that it was "Man on Wire" - which is actually of my favorite movies of all time and if you haven't seen it yet - you HAVE to see it immediately - like today). This year, I'm bummed I'm going to miss the festival because I've got a wedding to attend in Virginia, but if you're in the area - you should totally check it out: http://www.fullframefest.org/.

Oh, and P.S.: Congratulations to Valerie of cabin + cub! Random.org has selected you, lucky #7, as the winner of "The Portable Dorothy Parker." Hope you'll enjoy it, but thanks to all of you who participated in our little giveaway! Have a nice weekend everyone!

"A Hole is to Dig" and a documentary is to watch

images of book via dsharp.typepad.com

"A Hole is to Dig," written by Ruth Krauss and pictures by Maurice Sendak, is one of my all time favorite books. It's just perfect. For all the reasons you may imagine (it's funny, it's cute, and, obviously, informational since we learn so many reasons and uses for a hole...), but it's also got that something extra that makes it a miracle. If you don't already own it, get yourself to a library and check it out - you'll be spending some time reading and rereading it, I promise.

And I just read in an article in the nytimes magazine ("Bringing 'Where the Wild Things Are' to the Screen") that there's an upcoming HBO documentary about Maurice Sendak called "Tell Them Anything You Want." The posted clip is of Sendak talking about how the children he drew were a reflection of the children he saw while growing up (not the ones with "cute upturned noses" found in kids' books at the time) and it was these very children which Ruth Krauss wanted to populate her book.

I'm going to need one of my friends to DVR this documentary for me (hint, hint, Mae) because I really love hearing a writer or artist talk about how his or her work came to be. It can be so inspiring at the same time that it humanizes the artist as someone who, just like everyone else, has to sit down at a table and work.