In my post yesterday, I explained how disappointed I am with Amazon’s lists of best sellers, hot releases, top rated, and most gifted children’s books in the art category. Most of their list is focused on how to…draw, sew, etc. I don’t have anything against “how to” art books. I actually have a few of them that I really like, but they are not included in Amazon’s current best sellers.

 

One that we picked up on our New York vacation last year is called “Sculpture,” from Moonlight Publishers’ “First Discovery” series. It talks about how artists make sculptures.  We love the translucent pages that transform the artist’s raw materials into a finished sculpture. The book helps my children imagine where the sculpture came from and think about new ways of using their own tools.

 

It also gives you some clues about how to talk to your children about sculptures. They aren’t the most brilliant illustrations, but I like the juxtaposition. We see sculptures at art parks and museums, but we also find sculptures in public parks, town squares, or pedestrian shopping malls. Even if the sculpture is not in an art museum, you can still ask your children questions about how it might be made. This book prepares young children to think about the materials and tools the artist used.

 

“Sculpture” includes work by 18 different artists. The only female sculptor represented in the book is Niki de Saint-Phalle, who created a special place called “Il Giardino dei Tarocchi” in Italy. I’ve been researching sculpture parks in Italy for our summer vacation, and Alexandra from ArtTrav has a great article about a first date in Niki’s garden. The other sculptors represented in the book are commonly found at regional museums. Their work spans from 1900 to 1983. And includes:

Picasso
Archipenko
Maillol
Kirchner
Saint-Phalle
Calder
Arp
Giacometti
Borglum
Rodin
Tinguely
César
Arman
Dubuffet
Flanagan
Brancusi
Pompon
Moore