Winter Reading 2024 BE STRONG: The Rise of Beloved Public Art Sculptor Nancy Schon

Friends can influence our lives in so many ways. Artist Nancy Schon was lucky enough to have a friend who offered encouragement when she needed it. When she became discouraged with a project she was working on, the friend "handed Nancy a piece of paper with two words: BE STRONG!" What would have happened if she had not received that message? Perhaps cities around the world would not have the amazing sculptures that visitors love to see and interact with. 

This picture book biography of Nancy Schon moves quickly from her first attempt at sculpture,

to her college graduation and marriage,

to the day she realized what she wanted for her art.

And that project she struggled with and eventually completed with her friend's encouragement? She was creating the mallard family from the children's book Make Way for Ducklings as sculptures for Boston's Public Garden.

The rest of the book explores some of the other art installations that Nancy has made, including characters such as Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore, as well as dragons, caterpillars, and raccoons. Her sculptures can be found in public areas in states like Massachusetts, Arkansas, Tennessee, Maine, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Florida, and even in places as far away as Taiwan, Israel, and Russia. Just as Nancy hoped, children hug, climb on, and even talk to the figures she has made. Back matter includes photos of Nancy as a child, at work in her studio, and with her family. There is also a list of the public art sculptures by Nancy, with the date of installation and location for each of them.

GIVEAWAY: To be entered in a drawing for a copy of this wonderful book, just leave a comment and your contact email by midnight on March 11th.

Keep reading for an interview with illustrator Rich Davis about his artistic process:

In promotional material from the publisher there are some interview questions with both author Darcy Pattison and illustrator Rich Davis. When asked what challenges he faced in creating the art for BE STRONG Rich replied: 

    "Illustrating this book has been a journey with many twists and surprises. It seemed from the start that even though I was illustrating a small part of Nancy Schon's life and work showing how she learned to "be strong" - the same challenge was happening to me!

     Just like Nancy said in the book, I had to search and try things and retry them always looking for the best I could bring. Many attempts ended in the trash can but always I knew I was going forward. My journey took me to a style I have never done before...it sort of unfolded in front of me as I kept searching.

     Because Nancy is a sculptor and sculptures are 3D, I wanted to lean that way with telling her story as much as possible.

     While walking the aisle at Wal-Mart I passed a large package of kid's colored construction paper. The idea popped into my mind that I could use this colored paper to paint on then cut out and glue on top of a large background painting. I tried it and it actually worked!

     I had a lot of glue to peel off my fingertips daily! Through this journey I somehow felt I was in the studio working alongside Nancy and that was the connection I needed as an artist to bring my best work. Hand crafted - just like Nancy still does!"

Thanks to the kind folks at Mims House I was able to ask Rich a few more questions about the experience of working on BE STRONG. Here are the answers he was generous enough to share with me.

Q: How familiar with Schon's sculptures (or her work in general) were you before you were assigned the task of illustrating the book? 

A: I had never heard of Nancy Schon before I was assigned the BE STRONG book project.  Nor had I ever read the book,  Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey which Nancy sculpted the ducks from that are in the Boston Botanical Gardens.

Q: When you are working with a nonfiction topic like this, how much research do you do? 

A: Much!  I knew I was representing not only a renowned sculptor/artist but also her work that is all over the world.  That was a weight of responsibility I keenly felt being an artist myself.  After I found research on the internet of Nancy and her work (I was getting to know her), I would practice drawing those things just for the sake of getting my creative feet wet...the "getting to know you" phase.

Q: You mentioned that "many attempts ended in the trash can" as you worked out how to represent Schon and her work. Has there been another time when you went through a similar process before being satisfied with it?

A: Every book...I've done 30.  I always have a trash can full from my studio on Monday morning to take out to the trash bin! An illustrator that cares about putting out his best work will search for the best "visual voice" to speak the same voice of the author's...her writer's voice. That's called a "good marriage"...marrying the words and the pictures together so that they have the best team effort to tell the story.  I have many voices as an artist...as does Darcy Pattison, the writer.  I am searching for the best voice to tell her story.  When the book is being read, every page is speaking 2 languages...words and pictures.  in greeting card work I learned that the colors you choose needed to go with the occasion and voice of the words for the card...a birthday card needed bright happy colors usually, not somber colors of a sympathy card.  It's the same with books.

Q: Did you use watercolor on the construction paper, or did you have to use a different type of paint because of the surface you were working with?

A: I used acrylic paint (dries into plastic!) because it is opaque and covers well and dries very fast (5-10 minutes or less).  This allows me to paint over the top of whatever paint I put down in case I don't like the original color...I just paint another color on top!  Watercolor is permanent...you basically get one shot at hitting the bullseye.  If you don't do it, then you start over or fix it in the computer.

Q: Is the technique you chose for these illustrations something you think you will use again in the future? 

A: I did not know I could do this particular technique.  I have never heard of another artist using it the same way.  I discovered it through trial and experiment.  You could think of it as a certain language (say, French) that I discovered.  It has certain advantages when spoken (painted) that were a good fit for this story.  I don't know if I will use again or not.  An illustrator works for others mainly...I use my own voices but I am doing it with someone else's story for someone else's book project...for children.  

Q: What led you into the field of picture book illustration?

A: I was schooled in graphic design/illustration and went into advertising agency work then greeting cards (21 years) but for inspiration I found myself drawn into children's section at book stores.  The creativity that was strongest for inspiring me to be the most free was children's book...hands down. It took me to a place I loved to go in my imagination.  I began painting children's book pictures on my own late at night in my studio next door to my bedroom.  I was in a seven year period with an unknown sickness that was killing me (literally).  I had extreme high pain 24/7 and painting these  children's book pictures was like taking pain relievers...the creativity let me escape that pain effectively.  By the time I began to actively try to enter the children's book world seriously, I had a lot of portfolio pieces to show publishers what I had to offer. In short answer to your original question, I guess I could say that "pain" led me to picture book illustration!  (Never thought of it that way!)

Q: I love the photo of you and Darcy with the tortoise sculpture that appears on the back of the book. Do you ever connect with other authors of the books you work on and get to meet them in person? 

A: I am not sure about today, but in the past I think publishers frowned on the illustrator connecting with the author.  They bought story manuscripts from the author and then found the illustrator they felt would be the best visual voice of that story.  But, I always wanted to connect with the author.  Every book that an illustrator works on equals months of hard persevering work...day after day.  I often wanted to know what the author was thinking when they wrote certain parts of the  story...to be more of a team.  In the Tiny the big dog series (17 books over 25 years), I found a way to contact the author (Kari Meister Kurst) and ask questions and encourage one another.  But the closest I have been in connecting with the author has been with Darcy Pattison (Indy publisher of Mims House).  We had met

years before (at Arkansas children's book workshops) we actually did our first book together.  Since she was starting her own publishing house, it has been an absolute delight to call or text her whenever I work on one of her book projects and ask a plethora of questions regarding any part of the story I was working on. We are book professionals, but friends (both her and her husband ) and both are close followers of Jesus Christ.

** I would like to give a big acknowledgement and thanks to Sue Foster from the Mims House publicity team for providing the promotional material with details about Darcy and Rich and their wonderful collaboration and the lovely interior images to share in this post. 

And I would also like to thank Rich Davis for his patience and kindness in answering my questions about his artistic process. For more information about Rich's other projects, please visit his website at https://www.artbyrichdavis.com/. If you enjoy art activities with your kiddos, you need to try out Rich's delightful drawing game "Pick and Draw" (visit https://pickanddraw.com/ for more details including photos of the game and ordering information).

Author Darcy Pattison also has a website https://www.darcypattison.com/, or you can visit the Mims House site to learn more about her books.

For more information about Nancy Schon, visit her website at https://www.schon.com/about/index.php.