Móra

Continuing with the theme of the Children's Museum of Art, there is a wonderful children's book publisher in Hungary- Móra- which has been putting out books with gorgeous and inspiring illustrations for many many years. When I was visiting the beautiful town of Pécs, Hungary, in 2002, a sweet antiqvarium (aka: antique bookstore) owner gifted me this likewise sweet book,
published by Móra: while can't read Hungarian, I do know that this book is about the Weather and its many forms. The illustrations are fresh and modern, and from 1971. I love their simplicity and directness, and the cheerful feeling conveyed that any kind of weather is okay to experience. Looking through this book is a refreshing break from worries about climate change and imminent environmental meltdown. But moreso, it's time spent enjoying simple, thoughtful, stylized yet direct visual communication.
Here are some more samples from the back and inside, to enjoy:




Stay tuned for more on Móra... there are many beautiful books from them to celebrate.

The Very Inviting Children's Museum of NYC

Last week I finally checked out the CMA--New York's Children's Museum of the Arts and saw a bunch of really great work such as this swim scene above. It's a hands-on museum with work stations throughout the space-- each station is hosted by an
artist/staff person who is there to guide children and parents through different art-making processes. I was only there for a drive-by, but was tempted to sit down and make something because the atmosphere there was so open and inviting: each table had supplies laid out and chairs waiting around the perimeter, waiting to be occupied. At some of the tables sat a kid and a parent, or a few, but the atmosphere was calm and nice. Artwork populates the whole space as well, so it's a combo museum/studio. They also have classes for kids, which sound very appealing.

(Especially interesting to me as a teacher of animation is that they have lo-tech animation classes here.)

Here some photos of artwork that I especially admired, from the museum-- however, and unfortunately (with the exception of the apartment building below) they don't have the artists' names displayed...

Some nice, big portraits:


An apartment building with interior:


Jump roping:


Big Puppets: