Etch-A-Sketch

Today I experienced Art. First, I bought one of those etch-a-sketch pads that pulls bits of magnet up to the surface with a pen. I bought this for two reasons 1)It is a Tangled etch-a-sketch, so when I am done experiencing art, I can then give it to my 2 year old niece and maintain my title of Favorite Aunt. 2) Garth Williams, the illustrator of Charlotte's Web, created many sketches for E.B. White, so instead of picking up a pen and paper, I picked up an etch-a-sketch to practice on.

Garth Williams illustrated not only Charlotte's Web but also Stuart Little. However, his work was not limited to these two stories. He illustrated for multiple authors, most of which we have all probably read, and did not realize Williams was the common artist for all of the texts.

The original sketches from Charlotte's Web were recently auctioned off last October. Williams kept all of his original sketches in his personal files, and after his death in 1996, the originals were kept safe in a bank vault. For fourteen years they remained locked away, but the cover art and all but two of the 46 interior illustrations were predicted to be auctioned for $30,000 for the cover and $12,000 for each single illustration.

While I read the text, I remembered why elementary school is so great--picture books. Charlotte's Web is littered with colored sketches that bring the text to life. I choose a few of my favorites to share with you:

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This picture depicts one of the most entertaining adventures of Wilbur when, while trying to impress Farmer Zuckerman, he enlists the help of Templeton to help him fly.

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If you have read my previous post on bottle feeding animals, then you will understand why this picture makes me smile. I think it is the epitome of summers on a farm.


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I surprised myself when I saw this illustration and liked it. I've previously said that I do not like spiders, but I took a moment to study this illustration, and an appreciation for the cleverness of spiders developed. Charlotte's web is a simple pinwheel web, yet she was never taught how to weave a web or what method works best. She was born with the instinct, and that is something to appreciate.

The Amazing Block of Books

A few weeks ago I was sitting at the desk of a coworker waiting for him to fix a piece of equipment so I could install it. As I was waiting, I picked up his newspaper dated April 12 and started skimming the articles. I read the usual articles, the Police Beat, the opinion pieces and an article on Facebook and Zuckerberg, and as I was folding the paper up and trying to be appear patient, an ad caught my eye. I stared at this ad in wonder for a minute before I turned to another coworker, nudged him and said, "Look at this!" He glanced at it, glanced at me, and said, "Cool." Cool? No! Not just cool! This was amazing! It was an advertisement for the Museum of Art and the newest exhibit on the "The Matter of Words". The picture featured was a huge block of books! It was huge! I wanted to clock out and go see it right then, but that would undermine my mother's good efforts at teaching me patience and responsibility. When he finally finished repairing the broken equipment, I asked my coworker if I could take his newspaper. He looked at me with a weird look (he usually does anyways because he thinks my choice of hair color is ridiculous), but nodded and said to recycle it when I was done. I did not recycle it; in fact, I still have this newspaper. It was packed up with me when I moved apartments, and the other day, I got to see the book block, and it was truly amazing.

Last Thursday, my coworker, Justin, and I were out early working on a project, and our first stop: the MOA! I was so excited! I hadn't had a chance to go see this amazing book block yet, but here was my chance. I contained my urge for instant gratification, and helped Justin with the project first. As we were being escorted by a security guard to where we needed to go, I asked her if the block was still here and if so, could we maybe just stop by it. I am sure Justin thought I was a dork, but I didn't care. She was very nice, and said we could definitely stop by it, and she even gave me a few facts about it. I was so excited. When we finally stopped by it, and was breathless. I like art; I wouldn't say I am a die hard art fan, but I appreciate its beauty, but this piece shocked me. As I walked around it, I became more and more mesmerized with it. Unfortunatley, I had to go back to work sooner than I would have liked, but I did do some more research on this block of books.

Adam Bateman, along with two others, completed 46 works of art focusing on books and the written word. Bateman built his masterpiece, "The Fourth Thousand Years," right inside themuseum. However, before construction on this piece of art, the Museum's floors had to bereinforced in anticipation of how much this would weigh. How much does it weigh? 83,000 pounds! That's right, 41 tons of books-that's as much as 30 to 40 cars! 70-80% of these books are LDS books, too. As I walked around it I could see Bibles, Books of Mormon and and other LDS teaching manuals scattered around the walls of this block. There are some 100,000 booksholding this 14 foot sculpture, and there isn't one speck of adhesive in the whole block. It is held together only by gravity. Bateman said concerning the structure of his art,"[It] is only possible through following strict parameters of stacking and using plenty of experimentation and faith."

Why did this amaze me so much? Was it the vastness of the sculpture? The titles all hidden from the eyes? The wavelike flow of the books? The amount of books? Because surely this shouldn't be so incredible since Kindles were marketed, right? Inside a small square that is only 1/3 inch thick and weighs 8.5 ounces there is capacity to hold 3,500 books. This little, black Kindle can buy books, share books, highlight and save favorite passages and can be taken anywhere you want to go. Why doesn't this inspire with the same awe-filled emotion as the Bateman's art exhibit did? In my hand I can hold 3,500 books, which is amazing, but it doesn't inspire me, or make my love of the English language grow.

There are so many forms that books come in now. eBooks, iPads, Kindles, PDFs, Audio books and even remixes such as movies are being consumed by readers all over the world. But, in my opinion, books will never become obsolete. Why? Because of the connection physical books create. Dr Burton asked our class why some people prefer books over Kindles, and my classmate, Ben, answered for me saying that he lost the connection with the book when he read it in a technology format. This is so true. We loose the relationship we form with a book when we do not read it in its intended format of paper and ink. We create theses relationships when we recall memories and the books we had in our hands at the time, or when an epiphany hit us when we were reading it or carrying it or just looking at it! Books become our friends with memories and relationships when they are in their physical formats; something that cannot happen when you archive the book in your Kindle.

When asked why people love his sculpture, Adam Bateman said, "I think, typically, people are attracted to books because people have a familiarity with books, and they are predisposed to like books. And I think when they see this many books together it transforms the way they think about books, and that's something people enjoy."

A Kindle doesn't create this wonderment, I wonder why?