The 2013 Mazza Museum Weekend Conference has begun! A ballet dancer until she was thirty, Robin Preiss Glasser, has spent her entire life expressing her artistic self without words. As the acclaimed illustrator of many books for children, including the beloved Fancy Nancy series, she is still doing just that. In an auditorium crowded with […]
The house down the road is selling. It’s a mighty house. An old, square, brick Sears-style house that has had several generations of the same family inhabit it for many, many years. It’s a home that’s been cared for, its yard pruned, its door decorated. It has been loved. So, last Saturday when the auction […]
Well, folks. Buckeye the doe has spoken. Everyone who commented on the previous blog entry was assigned a random number. And those numbers were placed on sticky notes. At first I thought, “Well, this is going to be easy!” Buckeye was instantly interested! And then just as quickly indifferent. She wandered a bit. She pooped […]
It’s mid August. You know what that means. We just finished with this. And this. And that means it’s almost time for this. And, since this blog is desperately in need of something to breathe life into its poor, neglected soul, I think it’s time for this. Who doesn’t love a great giveaway? So, here’s […]
Those of you who know me know that I support farmers and I especially support today’s farm youth. 4-H and FFA members and farm kids in general are an admirable lot. They learn early how to work and how to work hard. They can be found in the barn before school. They give up a […]
This message isn’t from me. It comes straight from Mo to my computer to you. You aren’t allowed to know what happened here today. Seriously. I’m not allowed to photograph any more. Honestly, he threatened to publicly shame those who attempted a shot. (He didn’t remember I already snapped this one!) I’m not allowed to […]
With a stunning watercolor painting in the background, Jon paints for the Mazza audience, turning a single black line into a Labrador retriever. Born and raised in Cincinnati, a young Jon Muth headed to New York with $500 and a dream of painting for a living. When it became clear he would need to eat to survive, […]
He’s color blind. He’s artistically challenged. And he was a child who couldn’t read in fourth grade. How, then, did Gary D. Schmidt come to stand before us at the Mazza Museum of Art this morning as a Newbery Honor-winning author? Because a fourth grade teacher took a personal interest in him. She gave him books, even if they […]
The Mazza Fall Conference continues with yet another Calecott winner. David Ezra Stein confessed that his 2011 Caldecott was inspired by a knock-knock joke. Maybe you’ve heard it. It goes: Knock, Knock Who’s there? Interrupting chicken Interrupting chicken…. Bock, Bock, Bock! Perhaps it’s funnier in person. But nothing’s funnier than listening to David Ezra Stein […]
Do you like creamed tuna fish and peas on toast? No? Well, according to Philip Stead, his grandfather really, really, really disliked this dish served to him every Friday. So he buried his supper in the back yard. Many, many years later, Philip turned the story into his first children’s book, aptly titled Creamed Tuna […]
