 |
 |
|
During the dot-com boom, Children's Book Press
had to move to a new office. It was difficult to find office space in
the San Francisco rental market. The space they found was a bit odd and
depressing being long and narrow. However, it had beautiful light. Harriet Rohmer (the publisher of Children's Book
Press) asked me to enliven the space. We started by choosing 10
colors to paint the space. What could be more fun than walking to work on water? It gives
you the sense you can do anything. So we painted a water walk. We also
took characters out of some of the children's books and made wooden-cut
outs which we painted and hung on the walls. We designed and had built
a storage loft and painted the water pipes to be more festive extending
their shape to create a mythological water-pipe beast. I had lots of excellent
workers and volunteers and worked collaboratively with Harriet and the
staff of Children's Book Press who also helped paint. It was a lot of
fun and hard work, but it is now an exciting and magical place to be.
(That's my dear friend
Mitch Myers working on the water walk) |
| |
 |
|
Detail
of 43' water walk |
| |
|
|
Pre-Columbian water-pipe
dragon
There were a mass of pipes that became a postmodern Pre-Columbian water-pipe
dragon mixing all sorts of metaphors with images from the picturebooks |
| |
|
|
These wooden figures were cut out by Georgia Ryan and Cushman Amesbury. The goat and iguanna came from Karen Lindquist's beautiful book "Grannie Jus Come."
The running boy is from one of my books - "Where Fireflies Dance."
That's Bob Langdon, who has since moved back to New York, goofing off with the cut-outs.
The backgrounds show some of the many wall colors
Antonio
Vigil built the loft, and painted nearly all the beautiful rocks
Anna Bonner was my
assistant, coordinator and fellow painter
Susan Lindeman and Gary Page
handled the many Children's Book Press logistics (Susan also painted)
Other painters included: Darla and Ben Radcliffe, Laura McCamy, Ellen
Singletary, Jeff Raymond, Roseanne Fox, Mike Nichols, and several others
Mural paints came from Nova Colors from Precita
Eyes
Wallpaints were purchased at Spectra Paints |
|
 |
| |
|
|
Please visit Children's Book Press at their website
http://www.childrensbookpress.org
They are a wonderful organization creating beautiful and meaningful children's books. If possible buy books directly or from independent bookstores.
|
|
