Pop Talk

      There’s nothing like talking with an enthusiastic group of 3^rd graders to inspire a children’s book
       author!  Last week at the National Gallery, I met such a group and I am still flying high! 

About 30 students came to the National Gallery for a “Belle” tour, arranged through our education department, and I was lucky enough to have been asked to meet with them in the Gallery’s small auditorium before their Gallery tour guides took them to see “in person” some of the paintings featured in my book.  I began by showing them some slides and talking about a couple paintings that weren’t on view that day and we talked about why that happens in any art museum. I explained that the reason I wanted Belle to visit so many paintings (26 paintings and a sculpture) in the story – was to make it likely that there would always be some “Belle” works to see on a visit, even if it was unlikely that they would all be on view at one time.

The kids had all read the book, and their collective whoop when I put one of their favorite paintings, Look Mickey by Roy Lichtenstein, up onto the screen, actually took me by surprise and was a special thrill.  Luckily, that particular painting was hanging in the galleries that day and so they were going to be able to see it. (Whew!)

Detail, page 31 of Belle: The Amazing, Astonishingly Magical Journey of an Artfully Painted Lady,

Bunker Hill Publishing, 2011.

I love the thought that my book could have created Pop Art enthusiasts!  The thing is, that because these kids thought this painting was cool, they were interested in knowing more about it, and so I showed them a photo of Roy Lichtenstein in the 1960s with the painting, and another of Roy Lichtenstein working in the studio in 1964, with his young sons sprawled on the floor in the foreground, surrounded by and lots and lots of comic books spread out all around them. And I showed them an image of the page from Walt Disney’s little Golden Book, Donald Duck, Lost and Found, from which Lichtenstein had adopted the image.  We took some time to compare the illustration to the painting and they enthusiastically spotted the differences between the two.   It was fun to share this work of art with them, and I’d like to think that they left the museum that day with just a little better idea about Pop Art “appropriation” – even though I never used the term. 

I think getting kids interested in looking enthusiastically at works of art is more than half the battle in the quest to make clear the essential role all of the arts play in our culture, and more importantly,  in defining our humanity.  If Belle’s story has helped to create a greater appreciation for Pop painting, or 17^th century Dutch painting, or French Impressionism, among those terrific 3^rd graders, well—it’ll keep me getting out of bed in the morning, that’s for sure!  So thanks, you guys!  I am so glad you “popped” in so we could share a story!

Find Look Mickey on the National Gallery of Art website:
http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=71479
Find more for kids about Roy Lichtenstein’s Look Mickey here:

http://www.nga.gov/kids/scoop-lichtenstein.pdf