More Than Pretty Pictures : Brea Exhibit Shows What Goes Into Book Illustrations

For the child who “reads” a book by gazing at its pictures, or the adult who thumbs contentedly through a storybook after picking it up merely to replace it on its shelf, the Brea Civic and Cultural Center Gallery offers “Worth a Thousand Words . . . Children’s Book Illustrations,” a wide-ranging collection of 75 paintings, collages, pencil drawings and other works by more than a dozen California artists.

The show, curated by new gallery director Georgia Freedman-Harvey, opens Saturday and continues through April 5.

The exhibition also includes family workshops and story times led by exhibiting artists (see accompanying box), included with the gallery’s $1 admission (youths under 18 are admitted free).

Modern and antique printing plates, storyboards and other tools related to the creation of children’s books will be on display to help visitors “visualize how the art they see on the wall ends up in a book,” Freedman-Harvey said.

Books that feature exhibiting artists’ work, as well as children’s books about the art of illustration, will be sold in the gallery store.

“Worth a Thousand Words . . . “ includes works by such nationally known artists as David Shannon (“Encounter,” “Gawain & the Green Knight”) and Debra Norse Lattimore (“The Winged Cat,” “Frida Maria”).

It also features pieces by emerging artists. La Mirada author-illustrator Julie Mammano, whose first children’s book, “Rhinos Who Surf,” will be published in June, is using the exhibit as the book’s first public showcase.

All of her book’s whimsical watercolor images will be exhibited, and on March 23, she will visit the gallery to read from the book and sign autographs.

The story of how Mammano, a surfer herself, developed the ideas and drawings for the book is typical of what many children’s book illustrators go through when practicing their art, Freedman-Harvey said.

“There’s a great deal of thought and experience that goes into these works before the artist even starts drawing,” explained Freedman-Harvey, who has coordinated exhibits for USC’s Fisher Gallery and the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles.

“Julie, for example, said one day she was sitting on her board in the water at Huntington, and with the sun beating on her head, and she just started daydreaming about rhinos surfing,” Freedman-Harvey said. “On the way home, she stopped at every traffic light and wrote down ideas for the book.”

Freedman-Harvey believes visitors who are unfamiliar with the body of children’s book illustrations on the market today will be surprised by what they see.

“There’s a real variety in styles and interpretation, not only between the various artists, but within each artist’s collection,” said Freedman-Harvey, who, as the mother of a 6- and 9-year-old, admits she spends more time reading children’s books than those for adults.

“I think this shows that the level at which a child can interface with this kind of art is much more sophisticated than a lot of people think,” she continued. “It definitely shows why children’s illustration art has become so respected and given a high level of credit in the art world today.”

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Irvine artist and father of three Steve Bjorkman, who has illustrated about a dozen children’s books including “This Is the Way We Go to School” and “1776,” says his job is to be “a servant to the text . . . but also bring the story to life and give it depth in a way that the author can’t envision on his own.”

Careful research has been a vital part of his projects, said Bjorkman. He said he studied the fashion, schooling and food of cultures from around the world to prepare drawings for “This Is the Way We Go to School” and “This Is the Way We Eat Our Lunch” and read up on Christopher Columbus for “1492.” But, he noted, what is turned up during that research--or what isn’t--doesn’t have to limit the artist’s expression or the reader’s involvement with the story.

“When I was working on ‘1776,’ I noticed that all the pictures in the books I saw on the American Revolution never had children in them,” he said. “So when I started drawing, I put children in various scenes.

“That way, a child reading the book could look at those pictures and say, ‘Look, there were kids there. They were a part of this too.’ ”

* What: “Worth a Thousand Words . . . Children’s Book Illustrations” exhibition.

* When: Saturday-April 5. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, noon-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

* Where: Brea Civic and Cultural Center Gallery, 1 Civic Center Circle.

* Whereabouts: From the Orange (57) Freeway, exit at Imperial Highway and drive west. Just past the Brea Mall, turn right onto Randolph Avenue, then right onto Birch Street and make an immediate right into the civic center parking structure.

* Wherewithal: $1; free for ages 18 and under. Parking is free.

* Where to call: (714) 990-7730.