Book Art

Now that the kids are a little older and more flexible, I have a goal for our homeschool this year to finally take some of the field trips I've been thinking about! To that end, we and Grandma Laurie made a 2 hour journey up to Amherst, MA last week to explore the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art located in Amherst, MA. 

I have been wanting to go to the museum for awhile and this summer they had exhibits by three of our favorite authors: Beverly Cleary, Robert McCloskey, and Eric Carle. So it was the perfect time to make the trip and it did not disappoint. The museum is small, perfectly sized for kids. There were scavenger hunts to do through the galleries but Ben and Julia really just wanted to look at the pictures. 

Our first stop was in the gallery with Robert McCloskey's illustrations. The kids loved seeing the drawings from Make Way For Ducklings, One Morning in Maine, and Blueberries for Sal. It was very cool to see some of his preliminary sketches and how the pictures came to their final state. Ben declared that gallery his favorite of the day.

From their we headed to Klickitat Street and the world of Ramona Quimby. A favorite of Julia's!

Next up was an exhibit of Eric Carle's work, divulging some of the hidden easter eggs in his art. It was a lot of fun realizing that there are hidden caterpillars and initials in some of our favorite stories!

Ben seemed to have quite an affinity for Eric Carle. I found him looking intently at this photograph of the author and when he turned away he said, "Mom, he is staring right into my soul." Wow!!

Benj and his "soul mate"

Eric Carle

 We loved this illustration from Little Turtle's Great Adventure by David Lee Harrison because the dog looks just like Benjamin's beloved Bubbles!

a boy and a butterfly

hiding inside a caterpillar

There was also an art studio where we created our own unique animals.

creating a bunny and a fish

We also saw a video of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - hilarious, of course! Checked out the fantastic gift shop, and ate a picnic lunch on the beautiful grounds. Which were perfect for practicing handstands and cartwheels!