What is the colour of snow?
Josiane Polidori is Head of Children's Literature at Library and Archives Canada. This article is based on the slide presentation she gave to an international audience at the 30th IBBY Congress: Children's Literature and Social Development in Macau, SAR, China.I would like to start by quoting Gilles Vigneault, the famous Quebec songwriter and poet:
"Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver Mon jardin ce n'est pas un jardin, c'est la plaine Mon chemin ce n'est pas un chemin, c'est la neige Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver." It translates as: "My country is not a country, it is winter My garden is not a garden, it is the plain My road is not a road, it is snow My country is not a country, it is winter."
How best to discover Canada and Canadian picture books than to explore how illustrators depict those harsh winters where snow covers our roads and gardens for months--or all year round in the northern part of the country. I will explore the Land of Legends, the Land of Eternal Snow, the magnificence of Mountains and Sea. We will also have a playful look at Playing in the Snow and visit Snowbanks and Cityscapes.
Land of Legends
How Summer Came to Canada (Oxford University Press, 1978) is a classic picture book illustrated by the late Elizabeth Cleaver. This artist had a very tactile way of setting a mood, using organic material to create delicate collages. In this winter scene, the layering of hand-coloured paper with birch bark, cedar and twigs is complemented by almost transparent white acrylic paint. There is a feeling of movement as if the snowflakes were actually falling down on the page. The original illustration is even more striking. Most of Elizabeth Cleaver's original artworks are deposited at Library and Archives Canada.
Ludmila Zeman uses her background in film animation for a very cinematic approach to the legend she created in The First Maple Leaf (Tundra Books, 1997). The black backdrop is like a film unwinding on a movie screen. There are dramatic moments, building tension, wide panoramas and close-ups. Her drawings in white and sepia have the quality of old fashion engravings. Winter and snow appear as a menacing natural force to humans. In Quel est ce bruit? (Scholastic Canada, 1990) and What's That Noise? (Kids Can Press, 1989), the translations of the original German version Was hort der Bar?, Michele Lemieux used luminous oil to paint the comfortable and cozy lair of a bear hibernating. Covered with warm and heavy fur, the bear is happy in his deep sleep. The storm might be raging outside, dark clouds are dangerously looming above, the trees are swaying, but there are no feelings of fear in this illustration. The bear sleeps happily. It is like being at home while a snow storm rages outside; noises are tempered and a certain isolation brings a feeling of contentment.
Land of Eternal Snow
In the classic book Children of the Yukon (Tundra Books, 1977), Ted Harrison depicts several traditional northern activities above the 60th parallel. Children make snowmen, participate in snowshoes or dogsled races, go hunting and fishing. They help their elders smoke moosehide and go canoeing. Harrison is an artist who moved to the Yukon shortly after emigrating from England and became one of the most famous artists of his adopted territory. The North is represented in vibrant colours; snow and ice are yellow, pink or blue in his illustrations. The horizontal lines are dominant, the images are uncluttered. The horizon line and mountains stretch far away as to convey the feeling of the immensity of the land, the sea and the sky. In the foreground, small creatures such as people, dogs and other animals are silhouettes in movement carrying on with their activities. In Harrison's A Northern Alphabet (Tundra Books, 1982), the artist introduces images, daily objects and words depicting the northern way of life to young readers. Many illustrations combine the traditional way of life of the North with some contemporary addition.
In Arctic Stories (Annick Press, 1998), written by Michael Kusugak and illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka, stories from the north are beautifully rendered by a well-known writer/ illustrator team. Inuit storyteller Michael Kusugak has worked on many picture books with Vladyana Krykorka, a Czech-born illustrator. Michael's childhood stories and memories come alive under Vladyana's colourful palette. She has visited Nunavut many times to observe nature and to fill herself with the spirit of the North. Her attention to accurate details and her respect for Inuit people is evident. Daily activities are depicted from the point of view of the storyteller. Arctic Stories relates events of the year 1958 when Michael Kusugak was a child. Although some changes were already taking place in the Inuit lifestyle, he was still living under an igloo in the winter and under a tent in the summer the traditional Inuit way. In other titles such as Baseball Bats for Christmas, Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails and My Arctic 1, 2, 3 Krykorka uses a multicoloured palette to paint snow--instead of the usual blues, greys and whites.
Kusugak's and Krykorka's Hide and Sneak (Annick Press,1992), the tale of a child lost in the tundra, shows a rare summer scene in the north. Some patches of snow have melted to reveal a thin layer of colourful grass and flowers. The main character Allashua wears her brightly coloured fabric summer coat and light boots.
Playing in the Snow
When New France became an English colony, the French philosopher Voltaire said: "This colony covered only a few hundred acres of snow." Well, these "acres of snow" last for months and make many children happy. Many Canadian illustrators have depicted this long season in their picture books.
In the well known series "Plaisirs," Roger Pare has illustrated the joys of winter. In Plaisirs d'hiver (Editions la courte echelle, 1990) and its English translation Winter Games (Annick Press, 1991), his whimsical animal characters have a lot of winter fun--a sleigh ride, a snowball fight, snowshoeing, skating, ice fishing, skiing and, of course, relaxing in front of the fireplace. His winter scenes reflect a reality familiar to children and, in particular, to Canadian children. Those anthropomorphic cats going down the gentle slopes could easily be kids in the Laurentians. His cartoony style reaches the young reader.
In Stella, Fairy of the Snow (Groundwood Books, 2000), Marie-Louise Gay chooses an original point of view where her two young characters Stella and Sam are seen from an aerial view as they make snow angels. Their boundless energy is captured in this double-page spread in a quiet moment. Stella and Sam are the masters of their own natural world, of their own personal landscape. The white surface speckled with soft hues of purple and blue is a reflection of their imagination and their freedom. In the catalogue of the Show and Tell travelling exhibition organized by IBBY Canada, Marie-Louise Gay confided: "I underscore the fragility, the size and the point of view of these two small children by placing them in a landscape of immensity."
Gilles Tibo is a well-known writer in Quebec; he is better known in English Canada as the illustrator of the Simon series. In Simon and the Snowflakes (Tundra Books, 1999), the soft-edged airbrushed character makes different encounters with small winter creatures and with a snowman. There is a sense of marvel with each new image. Through the eyes of Simon, the young reader discovers harmony and beauty.
In Nana's Cold Days (Groundwood Books, 2002), Bushra Junaid depicts the first impression of cold and snow of a grandmother from Africa visiting her grandchildren in Canada. The main character has to overcome and learn to enjoy the cold and the harsh weather. The illustrator's expressive collages are strong and vivid. The use of found material, the variance and facial expressions of the characters are very accomplished. The texture for the clothing are created from photographs of trees, vegetables and skies.
Of Mountains and Sea
Wildlife artist Andrew Kiss has teamed up with writer Margriet Ruurs to create A Mountain Alphabet (Tundra Books, 1996), an informative journey through the natural beauty of Western Canada's mountains, using the alphabet book as a teaching tool. Despite the isolation and ruggedness of the landscape, it is remarkable to notice that human beings and animals often cross paths. A Mountain Alphabet depicts the natural world in its pristine state; the realistic illustrations clearly present a non-fiction approach. This book was part of the exhibit Beyond The Letters--Retrospective of Canadian Alphabet Books, held at the National Library of Canada in June 2003.
In The Killick (Tundra Books, 1995), Newfoundland artist Geoff Butler gives specific clues about the location and the way of life from his native province. This book introduces the theme of the battle of man versus sea. When George and his grandfather visit an abandoned fishing outport, they are caught in a terrible storm on their way back and take refuge on an ice floe. Amid a greyish background, the yellow dory is the focal point of this illustration, and the characters disappear in the fog. Not only it is a sturdy boat but, turned upside down on the ice, it will become a safe place for the two characters waiting to be rescued. Geoff Butler uses an expressionist style to translate the harshness and the beauty of the sea.
Ian Wallace uses a different approach to depict Newfoundland in his book Duncan's Way (Groundwood Books, 2000). He relates in words and images the despair fisherman go through when their livelihood cannot be sustained. The tension in the wording is high; the illustrations have a certain emotional distance as if to control the anguish. Duncan, the main character, is seen in every picture. The cover scene shows him aboard his dory circling around an iceberg--a regular outing for a young boy because these icebergs are a yearly occurrence in June and July along the coasts of Newfoundland.
Snowbanks and Cityscapes
In Stephane Poulin's rendition of Christmas Eve Magic (a retelling by Lucie Papineau of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, published by Kids Can Press in 2006), we wander through the pages of this story as if entering a past era. Poulin uses a dark and rich palette; his characters have a Flemish Renaissance quality and slightly outdated dwarfish features. The environment is highly detailed in its attention to buildings. Those steep roofs and high church spires are not from London, but are typical of the province of Quebec. The illustration showing a lavish Victorian parlor is in fact the living room of Lucie Papineau. Montreal appears in its Victorian grandeur in Christmas Eve Magic. Poulin finds specific details that border on magic realism; he has an eye for the quirky and the unusual.
A Big City ABC (Tundra Books, 2002) by Allan Moak is like a Toronto travelogue. With his naive style, Allan Moak introduces various well-known Toronto vistas. His winter scene for "R is for Rink" is typical of a beautiful cold day. The tiny colourful characters on the skating rink are like extras in a feature film where the white modernist architecture of Toronto's City Hall is the star.
In A Happy New Year's Day (Tundra Books, 1991), Roch Carrier's retelling of stories from his childhood, artist Gilles Pelletier has been inspired by American folk art. His paintings convey the charm of country life and reflect a sense of joy and past innocence. The grandparents' house is picture perfect with well-lit windows, smoke coming out of the chimneys and happy children waving at neighbours. The street is busy with colourful horsedrawn sleighs and an old-fashioned snowmobile. That vehicle was actually the talk of the town and Roch Carrier's father really drove one. Each painting gives a sense of nostalgia for this happy past.
Pierre Pratt has illustrated over 100 books and won many awards including the Governor General's Literary Award twice. In all his books, he has represented snow only once--in Le jour ou Zoe zozota (Les 400 coups, 2005). In typical Pratt style, the line and the colour mass are prominent. In a quiet street, the tip of the hat of the character almost disappears in a snow bank. The red brick building could be part of any Montreal neighbourhood. The illustration depicts the idea of snow, not its reality. Why are winter scenes and snow so rare in Pratt's books? Pierre Pratt certainly lives in a cold climate but, in his imaginary world, the sun is shining all year round.
In Goodbye to Griffith Street (Orca Book Publishers, 2004), Renne Benoit has illustrated a winter streetscape from a Northern Ontario mining town. The story is about a young boy leaving town after his parents' divorce. Each snow-covered street is full of simple details. Through the story and illustrations, the book conveys a sense of belonging and also a feeling of heartache. Nothing is very pretty in this mining town--the mine chimney spits dark fumes on the snow, houses are small except for a few company houses, but Griffith Street was home.
Are Canadian children's book illustrators depicting the natural world to describe and record its beauty? Or are they using the landscape as a springboard for their imagination? We have seen examples of illustrators who exquisitely provide a realistic approach to describing winter and snow visually. Other artists deploy their talent in suggesting a feeling of snow, while others exploit visual rainbows and fireworks to render white differently on a canvas. What is the colour of snow? In Inuktitut, over 40 different words can describe snow. Can we say that Canadian illustrators have found a diversity of visual languages to paint them?
Josiane Polidori is a former President of IBBY Canada. For more information on IBBY Canada, visit www.ibby-canada.org.
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| Author: | Polidori, Josiane |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Canadian Children's Book News |
| Geographic Code: | 1CANA |
| Date: | Dec 22, 2008 |
| Words: | 2312 |
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