An Interview with MaryAnn F. Kohl, Children's Art Book author and a GIVEAWAY for Storybook Art

***Giveaway winner has been selected!
 Today I have 2 exciting things going on at The Chocolate Muffin Tree:

An Interview with MaryAnn F. Kohl, children's art book author

and

A Giveaway for:  Storybook Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl

If you don't know who MaryAnn Kohl is she is an author of many children's art books including: Mudworks, Scribble Art, First Art,  and more.  I first came across the book Mudworks when I was studying to be an Art teacher.  It was an invaluable resource for all different recipes for sculptural doughs and more.  I remember back then wanting to try out all the recipes just for FUN (my kind of fun!)   I collected many of MaryAnns' books including Scribble Art (My favorite book by MaryAnn!) along the way.  I remember always wishing I could be like MaryAnn and hoping to one day write an Art Book for children. So now that I am interviewing her,  it is quite an honor because I view her as almost like a celebrity in my world! I've also included a few questions from my readers that were posted on Facebook. If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comment section below and I'm sure MaryAnn will gladly answer them!

MaryAnn doing what she does best!

On with the interview:

MELISSA: What did you love most as a child and do you still love it?

MARYANN: As a child, I most loved playing in the woods for hours on end, no parents around, building forts, "cooking" and using leaves to make pretend food, finding bits of trash for dishes, raking leaves to make paths, and generally, just being lost in the woods and my imagination. I would wake up on Saturday morning and bolt out the door headed to the woods. My house was about five houses over from my woods of choice. If my mom called me, I could hear her and would scoot home in no time. When I wasn't in the woods, I loved coloring, reading my books, playing with my dolls, or riding my bike. Do I still love any of these things? I love them all! ( I don't play with my dolls anymore, but if I still had them, I might change their outfits and fix their hair. Is that playing?) And I have to add that I loved snow. I still love snow and ski every week during the winter. I love winter the most of any season.

MaryAnn at age 3 swinging on a rope over Puget Sound at her
grandmother's magical house on Bainbridge Island, Washington

MELISSA: How did you get interested in Kid's art and creating books about "Making Art With children"?

MARYANN:  First, as a child I loved my crayons and pastel chalks and drawing freely daily on my huge pad of paper. We didn't have much art in school, but simple art was a big part of my childhood when out of the classroom. When I began teaching school, I found that kids were always quiet and on task and deeply involved when they were doing art, and so I began tying art to all kinds of learning including math and science. I never had one single child in any of my classrooms who did not respond to some kind of art in a positive way. Art was like the magic key to inspiring children to learn on many levels. When I began raising my babies, I had time to think about writing books (we didn't have blogs yet!), and I became drawn to writing a book to share easy process art ideas for others. Process art was a new concept in 1985 when I wrote "Scribble Art". I just had this feeling that a book about letting kids make art their own way, and not copying what an adult had made, was important. I have been so pleased to follow my passion about art for kids.

MELISSA: Who or what was your inspiration?

MARYANN:  Looking back at my life,  I can see that I was definitely and heavily inspired by my immediate family and their influence on how important creativity is:  My dad owned a book bindery and honestly could have been a cartoonist,  my mom was an oil painter and played piano daily,  my grandma was a published author and organist,  my aunt was an opera singer with the Los Angeles Opera Company,  and my grandpa owned bookstores across the country.  Sadly,  none of them lived to see what I accomplished,  but I have to believe that they know.

I have to thank my mom for not scolding me when I colored on the wall at the age of three.  I completely covered the wall above my bed with swirls of crayons using two arms at once,  hands filled with crayons.  When she discovered my activity,  after taking in a huge breath  (I remember her reaction), she calmly explained that I should draw on paper instead of my wall.  She even bought me a pad of newsprint.  The part of this experience that mattered most to me is that she left that marvelous creation above my bed for many years.  Oh, how the colors swirled!

MaryAnn with her Mom, Betty Faubion,
at a beach in Bainbridge Island, Washington

MELISSA: What is your favorite book that you have written and why?

MARYANN: I still love "Scribble Art" the most. Every project in the book is easy, basic, exploratory, and completely open-ended in possibilities and works for all ages. And all the projects are ones I used during my years teaching kindergarten through grade two, so I am deeply attached to the book as a walk down memory lane.

MELISSA:  What book of yours has sold the best or had the most influence on others?

MARYANN:  Discovering Great Artists is my best seller, and I believe has had the most influence on children's art lives: hundreds of thousands of children!! Just imagine each individual child who now knows Matisse and van Gogh and Monet, and who has created art inspired by these masters! It makes my heart beat faster to try to imagine those real individual children and how the book has made an impact on their lives.

MELISSA:  What other books or type of book do you hope to write in the future?

MARYANN:  I hope to write a book for kids in upper elementary grades about a little girl growing up in the 1950s. Based on the life of "guess who"? I have some really funny experiences to relate and I can't wait to get started.

MELISSA:  What are your Top 5  favorite process based art projects?

MARYANN:  My favorites change from day to day, so this is a tough question. But for today, here are my top 5, and I'm going to list them in very VERY general terms so the possibilities are wide open. each of these five has a book-full of possibilities:

1. exploring with playdough

* today's favorite: mixing blobs of colored playdough to make new colors

2. collage with whatever is on hand

* today's favorite: art tissue scraps painted onto paper with thinned white glue; add other supplies like glitter or beads

3. wood scrap sculpture

* today's favorite: stack and glue pieces of wood scraps into towers or flat reliefs; paint optional

4. painting with liquid watercolors or tempera paints

* today's favorite: draw and color with crayons on white paper and then spray liquid watercolor on the drawing

5. making prints with whatever is on hand

* today's favorite: roll marbles through paint blobs on a paper plate in a pie pan.

MaryAnn exploring with play dough

Questions from my readers:

Who is your favorite Artist?

MARYANN:  Matisse. Definitely Henri Matisse. Always Matisse. Of course I love his art, especially his paper cutouts. But it's more. When I look at him in photographs, I feel like I know him. Wishful thinking perhaps, but there's a connection I can't explain.

What is your favorite book on inspiring creativity?


MARYANN:  Rhoda Kellogg's The Psychology of Children's Art was my first foray into seeing children's art as more than just basic little crayon drawings or tempera paintings. I knew nothing and this book opened my eyes! The book surprised and inspired me. I couldn't stop looking at the children's paintings in this book and thinking about children's art in a new way. The book changed my view of children's art and started me in a new direction of seeing its value on a deeper level, as more than play. I suddenly saw art as important to a child's development and expression as a human being.

What art activities would you suggest for a 3 year old that doesn't like to get messy? And eats play dough/clay rather than playing with it?

MARYANN:  Some very young children need active creative play more than they need art. Does that make sense? They need to play with blocks, ride little toys, run in circles, and jump over things. They need to arrange their dolls or spend time with their books. Creativity takes many forms, and messy art is only one of them; these things can take time. Many three year olds are going through potty training and research shows that children in this stage often avoid anything messy like paint or playdough, things that make their hand messy especially. So it may be a stage, or it may be this particular child's natural personality. Either way, it's a good idea to do art that has some 3-D sculpture to it, like arranging scraps of wood together on the table, or building an abstract large sculpture with rolls of newspaper and tape - joining the rolls together in any way. Don't be surprised that the reluctant three year old becomes the exuberant four year old! A little more advice: Keep basic art supplies freely available at his level to use and explore at will.  

MELISSA: Any other information you would like to add or share with my readers?


MARYANN:  My advice is about being easy on yourself as the parent. With all the fabulous ideas on blogs today, and all the books of art ideas, and all the amazing supplies you can buy, I know it can be overwhelming to know what to do or feel like you are accomplished enough to do it. It's important to know that if you never did anything but let your kids draw with crayons and mess around with cardboard boxes, you would have succeeded! Honestly, nothing much more is needed because it isn't really the activities you give your child, but your own attitude about the importance of imagination that inspires a child to be a thinker and a creator. The child's own imagination is the key to it all. If you allow for imagination, you have allowed for creativity to blossom and grow and form a human being whose mind is going to expand to hold the world. So go easy on yourself and enjoy whatever you bring to your child's world because any and all of it is a plus.  

MELISSA: Thank you so much for the interview.  It has been a honor.  I know my readers will appreciate learning all about you!

More Information about MaryAnn F. Kohl:

MaryAnn's blog: MaryAnn F. Kohl, process art and treasures of childhood
MaryAnn's Website: Bright Ring Publishing and Free Art Activities from her books
MaryAnn's Bright Ring Facebook page: Bright Ring Publishing
You can purchase all her books through Amazon.com here

now for the...GIVEAWAY 

MaryAnn has donated a signed copy of Storybook Art to give away to one lucky reader! We were fortunate to receive a copy too. From the book, we enjoyed creating Balloon Sculptures (the post you can check out here) and Pasta Sculptures (the post is here) along with the books that go along with these projects. This book is a great resource for teachers, parents, and caregivers who want to incorporate Literature along with their Art Activities.  For your chance to win a copy leave a comment below by March 12, 2012, 10pm EST.  Winner will be notified by email.

GOOD LUCK!

What is your Favorite MaryAnn F. Kohl book?