A bridge to learning: the life and work of Eric Carle.

On an overcast day in late autumn last year, over 3,000 picture-book aficionados converged on the outskirts of Amherst, Massachusetts to honor a man and a museum. The man is the world-renowned creator of such children's classics as The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Busy Spider, and perhaps the most famous critter in that author's literary menagerie, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The museum bears the name of the man who brought us these and many other delightful stories for the very young: The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Occupying 44,000 square feet, the contemporary museum is situated in a 7.5 acre apple orchard, next to Hampshire College campus in the Connecticut River Valley.

The diversity of the crowd that attended the museum's grand opening on November 22, 2002, bore witness to the universality of Eric Carle's appeal. Young children, teenagers, parents with babes in arms, and grandparents with tots in strollers moved about the museum's galleries, studio, library, and other rooms looking at artwork by Carle and fellow illustrator, Maurice Sendak, with obvious enjoyment and appreciation. And in the midst of all this activity, the man of the hour, white-bearded and bespectacled, chatted with well-wishers and greeted old friends and new acquaintances. The museum is the realization of a longtime dream of Carle's, "To build a museum for children and families, teachers and librarians, scholars and everyone interested in the art of the picture book--a museum to delight, entertain, surprise, and educate." Future guest artists exhibiting at the museum will include Mitsumasa Anno, Lesley Liu, Robert Ingpen, Eve Tharlet, Lizbeth Zwerrger, Nancy Eklholm Burkert, and Lucy Cousins, to name a few.

Although from his earliest years Eric Carle's sights were set on a career in art, even he could not have guessed that he would find his greatest success in the world of children's books. Born in Syracuse, New York in 1929, Eric Carle moved with his parents to Germany when he was six years old. Carle's father had wanted to become an artist, but was discouraged by his parents from pursuing what they perceived to be a non-lucrative line of work. Though he followed their advice and did not attempt a career in art, he sometimes drew pictures for his son, Eric. Together they would take long walks through meadows and woods, his father teaching him about the life cycles of the small creatures they encountered. Carle has said that he honors his father in his books by writing about the living things he taught him to love.

Eric's own artistic gifts were recognized early on, and encouraged both at home and at school. He credits his teacher at his German gymnasium (high school) for developing his knowledge of art.

During his four years at the prestigious art school, the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Stuttgart, Eric was influenced by his professor and his peers. He set his sights on a career in design, and upon graduation returned to America, the land of his happiest childhood memories. In 1952, found a job as a graphic designer in the promotions department of the New York Times. Later he was the art director of an advertising agency for many years.

In 1967, children's book author Bill Martin, Jr. asked Carle to illustrate a story he had written. A striking picture of a red lobster that Carle created for an advertisement had caught Martin's eye. The book that resulted from their collaboration is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, still a favorite with children thirty-five years later. This was the beginning of Eric Carle's true career. He began writing and illustrating his own books, the first of which was 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo published in 1968, followed by the celebrated classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar in 1969. That book has sold over seventeen million copies and has been translated into more than thirty languages.

Carle's philosophy of writing is to attempt to bridge the gap between the home and school. He believes the passage from home to school is the second biggest trauma of childhood next to being born. In his books, Carle seeks to ease that transition by showing children that learning can be fascinating and fun. Whether it's an interesting first introduction to marine biology in A House for Hermit Crab; a tale of how a cricket tracks a mate (featuring a chip that perfectly reproduces the real sound of a cricket's song) in The Very Quiet Cricket; or a lesson in complementary colors taught in a most surprising way in Hello Red Fox, Carle makes learning fun for the very young. His artistic style is distinctive and immediately recognizable. His artwork is created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers, which he cuts and layers to form bright and cheerful images. Collage is a technique that seems accessible even to those with no formal training; children enjoy attempting to create collage images of their own. And so, in the medium as well as the message, generations of children look, learn, listen, and delight in the books of Eric Carle.

RELATED ARTICLE: Interview with Eric Carle.

SchoolArts: I have read that you were encouraged by your teachers and family as a child to be artistic. Can you elaborate on that for our readers?

Eric Carle: My father, who drew rather well, wanted to become an artist. But his father, a state employee (customs official), would not have a "starving artist" in his family. So my father became a municipal clerk. However, he never lost his interest in and love for drawing and often drew pictures for me, mostly of animals.

Miss Frickey, my first grade teacher in Syracuse, NY, discovered my love for drawing that, undoubtedly, had been passed on to me by my father. In an arranged meeting, Miss Frickey pointed out to my mother that her son was talented and that she should nurture that talent.

Later, in gymnasium (German high school), Herr Krauss, my art teacher encouraged my love for drawing and painting. With great care and deliberation he set out to cultivate my artistic development. When I was twelve or thirteen years old he secretly showed me reproductions of the "Forbidden Art" done by so-called "degenerate artists," according to the then-prevailing Nazi doctrine. He showed me the works done by the German Expressionists and the abstract artists; all widely respected artists not at all degenerate, of course. But, for this act of defiance Herr Krauss could have been dismissed or worse. His courageous act opened my eyes to the beauty of German Expressionism and abstract art. In addition, Herr Krauss demonstrated his trust in me.

Professor Schneidler, at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, with whom I studied design from age sixteen to twenty, was also a great influence. These four years were the most inspiring and exciting years of my artistic schooling. At the Akademie, I also met and related to my fellow students from various backgrounds. My artistic, spiritual, and cultural horizons expanded. Schneidler's message was, in short: As designers, we should shape in a responsible, noble, and tasteful way all the things that confront us visually--the illustrations for a book, the color scheme for a shopping center, the shape of a coffee cup, the design of a poster, or the form of a typeface, for example.

SA: Without that encouragement do you think you still would have become an artist?

EC: It is hard to know what my life would have become without that encouragement. Although as far back as I can remember I enjoyed drawing pictures and knew that I would always draw. It always felt good to work with pencil, paints, crayons, and paper.

SA: Your work is created in the collage technique. What appeals to you about working in collage?

EC: I learned collage in art school. After art school I was a poster artist. I always liked big, bold images, which are important in poster design. I love to do collages--the whole process of it--painting tissue papers, storing them, handling them, cutting and tearing out shapes.

SA: As most of our readers are art educators, how would you like your work to inspire them in the classroom, or how would you suggest they use your work as a tool in the classroom?

EC: I was trained as a graphic designer and illustrator and so it means a great deal to me when an educator finds my work valuable in the classroom. However, because teaching is not my area of expertise, I refrain from offering suggestions on how educators use my work as a learning tool.

SA: How did the idea of the Museum of Picture Book Art come about? Is this the first of its kind?

EC: My wife and I started to dream about this idea of a museum of picture book art a number of years ago. We wanted to create a place where original picture book art could be enjoyed and appreciated and where the connection between verbal and visual literacy could be explored. It has been said that picture books are an introduction to literature for the very young reader. We wanted to help build a museum that would be the same thing for the first-time museum visitor: an introduction to the experience of looking at art.

In Japan, where there are twenty such museums, Takeshi Matsumoto opened the Chihiro Art Museum, a picture book museum which we visited as we began to think about our own project. We learned a lot from the Chihiro Art Museum and Takeshi is an Honorary Trustee on the board of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, which is a tremendous gift to us. Europe, too, has several picture book art museums.

We are the first full-scale museum in this country devoted to the art of the picture book. There are other important centers and collections celebrating picture book art in the U.S., including The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas, which opened its doors in 2000, and the Mazza Museum (formerly the Mazza Collection) in Findlay, Ohio. The Eric Carle Museum is different in that it was conceived and built as a museum, with ample spaces devoted to the collection, presentation, and preservation of the original art as well as others dedicated to fulfilling the museum's educational mission (Art Studio, Reading Library, and Auditorium) and to rounding out the visitor's experience (Cafe and Book Shop).

SA: The Art Studio within the museum offers a wonderful opportunity for children to interact and engage in a unique art-making experience. Do you expect this element of the museum to evolve over time?

EC: The programming at the museum is being handled by capable and dedicated staff who love art and teaching of art. I am not very involved in this part, but I am sure that wonderful creations will come out from the children and adults alike from the Art Studio. It is a space much like what I remember of kindergarten classroom in Syracuse, with bright light and lots of space and big sheets of paper.

SA: Finally, you have said that a book is like a bridge over which a story travels from writer to reader. Do you think of this museum as a bridge between artist and reading public?

EC: Picture book art is important because it is an art form. It is an important part of culture; it's important to people. And picture book art is just one contribution; one piece that we are adding to the whole.

Also, I think in this country, unlike in the rest of the world, we tend to be less visual. I think the visual aspect of art, not just picture book art, is a little bit neglected with our children. I remember being in a museum in Italy once and as I walked in, there was a group of children sitting on the floor and looking at a medieval painting. They were listening to their teacher. My wife and I walked through the whole museum and as we walked out they were still sitting there. This made a great impression on us. And maybe our museum can help to encourage this kind of experience.

Rosemary Mackenzie is children's librarian and assistant director at the Haston Free Public Library in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, Glenna Mackenzie is production editor for SchoolArts magazine.