Children's Art.

Book Review: Children's Art By Antje Tesche-Mentzen and Herlinde Koelbl

The artists featured in most coffee-table books are familiar; they have had their works showcased at museums world-wide, projected onto 30 foot screens in front of 100-person art history classes, and featured in countless numbers of books and other publications. But rarely is there a book that celebrates the art of amateurs--the art that usually hangs on mom's fridge showing how proud she is of her child's creativity.

Children's Art by Antje Tesche-Mentzen and Herlinde Koelbl is this unique book. It honors the ability of children to imagine things differently--"red lemons and green skies." Here, there are no famous names, no perfect techniques or specific styles. Instead the book mixes artwork from a number of different kids, all of whom have worked with author Tesche-Mentzen in observing, imagining, and creating. The art is grouped by theme, separated by poetry describing one or a number of the art within the particular chapter, with photographs of children, paint dripping off their noses and completely focused on their creations, mixed in-between.

This artwork in this book will inspire child artists to look at the meanings behind their own art and their own technique. This is one coffee-table book that will not just sit, but inspire and provoke.