Some great picture books (for all ages) that demonstrate foreshadowing are:

The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau by Jon Agee

Shortcut by David Macaulay

Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco

Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

 

©2009 Marilyn Ludolph

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For Parents, Teachers, Librarians—Talk Art!

Calef Brown’s Exquisite Corpse Adventure Illustration for Episode Three

by Mary Brigid Barrett

	Clowns by Calef Brown
	Just for a moment, suppose that clowns were hilarious instead of terrifying. It’s hard to imagine, but keep trying. Suppose that clowns were likable, merry, and droll, instead of striking fear in your very soul.		Could their clowning skills inspire polite chuckles instead of cold chills and white knuckles? Would you laugh at every clowny antic instead of feeling frantic and full of agitation? Try to picture it. Use your imagination. © Calef Brown 2008

“I‘ve always enjoyed illustrating  loopy carnivalesque characters–my books are full of them–so an evil clown juggling meatballs and a bomb was very appealing, to say he least. Harlequin characters, as imagined by Picasso, Cezanne, Max Beckman and others are an influence, as well as kitsch paintings of sad clowns. For this piece I did a brush and ink drawing, scanned it into the computer and added color digitally. I love to incorporate pattern and a variety of line work, so the diamond and star shapes in the costume and the ruffled collar were fun to play around with. The tree shapes in the background are very simple, and lighter in tone than the black lines so not to compete with the figure of the clown. I also made them arrow-like to direct the eye upward. The clown’s arms, hands, and the arc of the juggled objects form a sort of frame around his face. To get the right demented expression, I made his features all slightly off kilter and non-symmetrical, hair standing on end. Evil, yes, but more than a little ridiculous as well.” –– Calef Brown, writing about his illustration for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.  

Building on Artistic Tradition

Clowns—whether they appear as circus personalities, carnival performers, or pop icons—hold a fascination for many people perhaps because in our own daily lives we feel we must walk out into the world and be a bit of a performer ourselves, our faces an outward mask of happiness even when we feel dark and depressed inside. Young people, too, may have mixed feelings about clowns. The performing clown hired to entertain at a child’s birthday party may come across as a scary figure to some of the children with unfolding laughter abruptly interrupted by fearful shrieks.

Artists have been fascinated by clowns—by harlequin and Pierrot figures; carnival, circus, and theater performers—for centuries, so much so that kitsch and parody clown art have become almost as collectable as fine art paintings of clowns. Some artists, like Picasso, feel that the harlequin figure acts as a visual metaphor of the artist as entertainer, a conception that has grown more popular in today’s post Andy Warhol fine art world and in the ever-expanding worlds of contemporary performance and video art.

When I opened up the jpeg file to see what Calef Brown had created to illustrate The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Episode Three: “The Found Clue” by Kate Di Camillo, I was thrilled to see his bold graphic approach and immediately thought of the work of American printmaker and painter Ben Shahn and the expressionist clown paintings of Georges Rouault, and so many other artists.

Pablo Picasso

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Paul Cezanne

George Benjamin Luks

Georges Rouault

Max Beckman

John Sloan

Walter Kuhn

Ben Shahn

Discussion Questions

 • Ask the students about their own personal feelings and experiences with clowns. Are clowns funny and entertaining? All clowns? Are some clowns sad? Can clowns be scary?  Do all clowns wear the traditional funny make-up or are there some clowns ––like Charlie Chaplin—who create their own non-traditional clown make-up? See if you can get them to broaden their definition of clowns and share with them the many different kinds of clowns.

• Share Episode Three of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure and Calef Brown’s expressionistic illustration with your young people at home and in the classroom and library. Ask the students if Mr. Brown’s illustration style is realistic or interpretive. Does it depict what a clown would actually look like in the situation Kate Di Camillo has written, or does it show more of an emotional reaction or interpretation of the story? 

• Ask if a tight realistic illustration would have worked better? Or does an interpretive approach convey much more than a realistic illustration would have conveyed? If yes, in what way? Does Mr. Brown’s illustration give us more than visual information? Does it convey emotional, atmospheric, and intellectual content as well? In other words, ask them about their feelings when they look at the illustration. What are they feeling and thinking, and would they have felt and thought of differently if the illustration had been very realistic? How does Mr. Brown’s illustration make them think about Episode Three and about the whole story? Ask them if they can guess, looking at Mr. Brown’s illustration, what the character Boppo the clown is thinking? What are Boppo’s intentions? Does the illustration reveal what Mr. Brown thinks or feels about the Boppo character?

• Share the other artists’ “clown” subject paintings and prints (see above) with your kids. Encourage them to discuss the clowns portrayed in each painting or print, comparing and contrasting each artist’s interpretation of the subject matter. Are there similarities in how each artist depicts his clown figure, are there differences? What are those similarities and differences? Which paintings and prints are more realistic and which are more expressive? Can your kids tell how each artist feels about the subject he is painting? Does the painting or print reveal the emotional state or mood of the subject or subjects in each picture? Does this artistic tradition of a clown/harlequin painting show a straightforward depiction of the clown as wonderful entertainer/performer? Or is it more complicated? 

• Now have your kids look once again at Calef Brown’s illustration for Episode Three. In what way is his illustration like the other artists’ “clown/harlequin” paintings and prints? In what why is his piece different? How has Mr. Brown used color compared to the other pictures? How has he used space compared to the other pictures? Is the compositional space a flat graphic use of space or has he used space in a more realistic sense using perspective with a foreground, middle ground, and background—a traditional placement of visual content? Has Calef Brown built on an artistic tradition of clown/harlequin painting? If yes, how has he done that? Has he added to the tradition with his own original ideas and interpretation? Does building on the clown/harlequin painting artistic tradition work within the context of the story episode Mr. Brown is illustrating?

• Is it more interesting to copy an artistic tradition, or is it more interesting to interpret an artistic tradition, investing in it your own ideas and feelings?

Painting Exercise

Materials:

Sketch paper, pencils, erasers (kneaded rubber erasers are so very wonderful!)

Thicker paper to paint finished painting on—white or off white of a size of your choosing—bigger rather than smaller!

Black India ink—and make sure your kids wear an old art shirt because India ink is a permanent stain!

Small or medium size old paint brushes with a pointed tip---old or cheap paintbrushes work best because India ink is harsh on paint brushes, and make sure the paintbrushes are thoroughly cleaned with soap and water afterward.

More paint brushes for painting with paint.

Tempera or acrylic paint

Containers full of clean water for rinsing paint brushes 

Soft rag or paper towels for spills

And make sure your kids work in an area that is spill proof—they will spill something and you getting upset about a mess will not make them feel great or inspire them to create art in the future––so assume the worst and be prepared!  

1. After you have discussed Calef Brown’s illustration and the other “clown/harlequin” paintings and prints, have your kids think about what they feel about clowns—do they really like clowns and find them fun and amusing? Do they think clowns are sad? Scary? Hilarious? Stupid? If they state that they do not care about clowns at all, expand their vision of clowns—do they like funny movie and television personalities? Are there performers who do not claim the label of clown but in fact are clowns? Identify contemporary clown figures in pop culture like Ronald McDonald, the Joker from Batman comics and movies or The Simpson’s Krusty the Clown. How do they feel about those images? 

2. Ask them to sketch and/or doodle different images of clowns on their scrap sketch paper—fill their papers edge to edge with drawing and doodles of all different images of clowns. Have them take their time and come up with at least a dozen different sketches or doodles.

3. Ask them to pick the sketch or doodle that best depicts their own personal feelings about clowns, whatever those feelings are—an expressive drawing rather than a “realistic” drawing.

4. Give each young person a bottle of India ink, a great piece of thicker paper, paints, brushes, a rag of paper towels, and a container of water. Have them do a fresh drawing, as big as their paper, using their best expressive sketch as their inspiration. Emphasize that this new drawing does not have to be an exact copy of their sketch—the new drawing can be different and even better!

5. Inspired by Calef Brown’s use of ink, have your kids dip their old pointed paintbrush into the bottle of India ink and then paint the lines of their drawing in black. You might like to have them look one more time at Calef Brown’s illustration so that they can see that Mr. Brown’s lines are not even or the same thickness throughout. His black lines are thick and thin, really dark in some areas, and textured in others. Some of his lines “close”—that is they are attached to other lines forming shapes, and some of his lines remain open and unattached—all of which is great because all that variety is more interesting visually! Encourage your kids to experiment drawing with the ink. And have lots of extra paper on hand in case they are dissatisfied with their first experiments.

6. After their ink drawings are dry—if they would like to add flat areas of color to their drawing with the tempera or acrylic paint—let them do so! Some kids may like their drawings as is and not want to add color and that is fine.

7. Hang all their “clown” paintings and drawings throughout the room. See if the other kids can guess how each child or teen feels about clowns by the way they have drawn or painted their subjects. Ask them which paintings or drawings are the most “expressionistic,” the drawings or paintings that express emotional power and depth—positive and negative emotions. Now that they have painted themselves, ask them if they feel differently in any way about Calef Brown’s illustration and the other artists’ paintings and prints.

To share more of Calef Brown’s work with the young people in your life, go to:

www.calefbrown.com/

www.polkabats.com/ –– kid’s book blog

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1641

And ask for Calef Brown’s latest books at your library or bookstore!

   

Flamingos on the Roof            Soup for Breakfast

Web resources:

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 Discussion Questions