Have you ever noticed that when most of us think of art we are filled with images of unapproachable museums, or delicate artifacts? Master artists are all around us, but we sometimes forget about them.  Eric Carle is one of my favorite.  His artwork is fascinating.

Eric Carle

1929 – present

Eric Carle was born here in the United States, but spent much of his life in Germany.  As a child he enjoyed nature walks with his dad, an influence which is still easy to see in his artwork.  Unfortunately, Carle’s father was called into service during WWII, and was taken as a prisoner of war.  Poor Eric!  He didn’t see his dad for 8 years!

During that time his neighborhood was often bombed.  (Can you imagine how frightening that must have been?) and he even lost a dear pet to the war’s chaos.  School was sometimes canceled, but Eric continued to enjoy artwork, even the kinds deemed “delinquent” by the Nazis, and learned a lot from his teachers.

As an adult Eric Carle moved back to the United States, only to be almost immediately called into the US army.  Guess where they sent him?  Yup, right back to Germany.  This wasn’t all bad, as Carle met his wife with whom he had two sweet children during this time.  When his service was over he finally got to live in the United States, as he had wanted for so long.  It was here that he finally was able to become an independent artist.

In 1964 a collage depicting a lobster caught the eye of Bill Martin Jr. who asked Carle to illustrate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  A life-long passion resulted, one which we have all benefited from, as we enjoy Carle’s work in our homes every day in his 70+ (and counting) children’s books.

Read:

Eric Carle has written a fantastic series of autobiographical stories in two books entitled Flora and Tiger and My Apron.  They are written directly to children in a way that is both playful and informative.  I can’t say enough how much my family enjoyed these books.  {These books are affiliate links, as are the book and art supply links below.  Should you click through I may get a small portion of any purchases that you make.  Thanks for your support.}

Look:

I usually encourage you to examine an image by each artist that we study, but this artist’s work is best seen in it’s correct format – a book.  Most families already have these books at home, so just take a few minutes to browse through  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? or his most famous work The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  If you can’t find a copy, you can always take a look at this video of Eric Carle reading his own copy.

Create:

Eric Carle is famous for his tissue paper collage work.  Rather than making our collage our of paper, we will be working with felt to make our own felt boards, a story-telling toy that is sure to provide lots of imaginative play.

In order to complete this project each child will need the following items:

• Several felt sheets, assorted colors, scraps are fine
• needle felting foam pad or brush –
• felting needle (approx. 36 gauge) – Students age 6 and under are highly encouraged to use a needle guard, and older students may want a grip, but the needle itself is all you really need
• scraps of roving
• Scissors – these should be sharp enough to cut felt.
• Sharpie markers
• Printed pattern pieces – download here (thanks to Rebecca)

Remember that each of these pieces should be kept separate.  Do not attach them to a background piece.  Store your pieces in a large bag, along with one large piece of felt.  We usually use clips like this to attach our felt boards to the fridge where my little lady can play.  (This one was made by her big sister for her Birdie Imaginary Friend birthday party)

Visit:

Eric Carle and his wife have created a fantastic museum dedicated to illustrators of children’s books.  It is a lot of fun!  Even if you can’t get there in person, it is more than worthwhile to take a look at their website.

Consider:

Want to find out how Very Hungry Caterpillar, the Bible, and throw-up all tie together?  Pop by the Fantastic Five to find out.