Art
Imitating Life: The Inspiration Behind The
Art Lesson: A Shavuot Story
By
Allison & Wayne Marks
Ideas
for our stories can pop up at any time. Sometimes the kernel of a manuscript springs
from a single line in a library book or when doing chores around the house.
Reminiscing with relatives can trigger memories that beg to be shared. All of
these circumstances converged into one glorious by-George-I-think-we’ve-got-it
moment. The result was our latest book, The
Art Lesson: A Shavuot Story.
Allison:
One day when spring cleaning, I came across a basket in the attic containing
the earliest examples of our twins’ artwork. As four-year-olds, Claire and
Elliott would sit for hours at the kitchen table using poetically named crayons
(e.g., mango tango, purple mountain majesty, robin’s egg blue) to illustrate their
own retellings of their favorite Shel Silverstein book, The Missing Piece. The titles of their books reflected their own
life experiences: The Missing Piece Goes Fishing -- The Missing Piece’s First
Day of School -- The Missing Piece Loses a Tooth. After this discovery in the
attic, I knew our next book would be about a child’s early adventures in art.
Wayne:
My father, Burton Marks, is an alumnus of the Cleveland Institute of Art. For
years, he worked at Saalfield Publishing in Akron, Ohio, as a designer of board
games and coloring books for different lines, including Peanuts and Star Trek. Later,
Dad had a successful career as a children’s book author, writing about putting
on magic shows, making kites, and planning Halloween parties. Growing up, I
remember his art studio in the basement being filled with canvasses, squished
tubes of oil paints, mosaic tiles, and multi-drawer cabinets crammed with a
little bits of this and that used for his projects – much like Grandma Jacobs’
studio in our book.
After
the Passover seder a few years ago, we recalled how Claire and Elliott took art
lessons from my father. They would return home with still life paintings done
in watercolors and floppy-headed sock puppets that starred in improvised plays which
also featured GI Joe, Barbie, and an array of Beanie Babies. Like Shoshana, the
granddaughter in The Art Lesson, our
twins cherished this time with their grandparent, which became signature
moments in their childhoods.
Allison:
Reading and researching are important components in any writer’s life. One day
in the Temple Israel Library, I was reading about the history of Shavuot and
came across a reference to papercuts being displayed in the windows of Jewish
homes during this holiday. I examined a pair of framed papercuts hanging on the
synagogue walls and then pored over the examples in Amy Goldenberg’s book, Papercutting: Revising a Jewish Folk Art.
An internet search uncovered even more beautiful examples of this delicate form
of art. I thought a picture book would be a good way to introduce children to
this Jewish tradition.
Wayne:
It was by combining all these elements that we came up with the characters and storyline
for The Art Lesson. Annie Wilkinson’s
illustrations perfectly capture Shoshana’s creative process and the beautiful
artwork that often results from simply working by trial and error with an
unfamiliar medium.
Allison:
In the book Shoshana grows up to be an artist just like her grandmother. Similarly,
eighteen years after taking their first art lesson in their grandfather’s
studio, our twins graduated with BFA degrees -- Elliott in graphic design (Kent
State University) and Claire in printmaking (Cleveland Institute of Art). They,
too, have their own wonderfully messy art studios.
Wayne:
We hope The Art Lesson: A Shavuot Story
will encourage budding artists to try making their own papercuts, embrace the
power of imagination, and, as Grandma Jacobs says, “make something beautiful.”
