ATLANTA — Atlanta’s High Museum of Art is inviting visitors into a colorful world populated by playful animals and imaginative children.
“I See a Story: The Art of Eric Carle” features more than 80 collages from 16 books by the author of children’s favorites such as “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Grouchy Ladybug.” Carle’s bright images explore themes including childhood, nature and journeys. The exhibit runs through Jan. 8.
Adults can revel in the nostalgia of books they read as children or read to their own children, while kids are treated to an exhibition arranged with them in mind.
A close look at the collages helps visitors understand how Carle works. He uses acrylic paint on white tissue paper to create bright sheets that he stores grouped by color in his studio. When he’s creating a collage he selects a sheet from his collection and cuts it using a razor or tears it by hand before layering the pieces into colorful scenes.
The works in the exhibition span five decades and are drawn from the collection of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass. The High is the only venue where for the exhibition.
Once the exhibition is over, the highly light-sensitive works will be removed from their frames and matting to be returned to the Carle Museum’s vault for 10 years, High director Virginia Shearer said.
“I feel like everybody who lives here should realize what a gift it is and should come down and see it,” she said.
Carle, 86, is formally retired and spends much of his time in the Florida Keys, but he still enjoys working in his studio space in Northampton, Mass., near the Carle Museum. He was born in Syracuse, N.Y. He worked as a graphic designer in The New York Times’ promotion department.
He turned to children’s books in 1967 when author Bill Martin Jr. asked him to illustrate a story that became “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” The first book he wrote and illustrated himself was “1, 2, 3 to the Zoo” in 1968, followed by “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” in 1969.
