smaller

small art- cardboard creatures

Saw this show of 'anthropogenically modified organisms' by Kirsty Fletcher at Red gallery- the kids were enchanted!

small shows- the cosmic bicycle theatre

The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre and Puppetry Studio is a place I used to visit in its old location in the East Village. The theatre has now moved to Brooklyn and amazingly 22 years since the owner Johnny ClockWorks first opened in Boston, he is still producing unique and imaginative puppet theatre.

In addition to producing all kinds of puppet theatre, they do childrens workshops in the holidays, birthday parties and kids matinees.

They need support from the public in particular right now, so if you are in New York - make time to see one of their shows and help save this magical place from disappearing.

Website

Blog

small threads- minimaximus

Miniimaximus make super cool and ethically produced t shirts for kids- designed by artists and kids! We love their ethos and their products. Even better- they are having a big sale.

Website

Shop

If you or your kid are interested in submitting designs to be considered for future T-shirts you can read all about how to go about it here.

small draw- motivational creatures

The awesome Dallas Clayton has just put together 100 motivational cresture prints- find them here.

Daqllas is a guy who made his own dreams come true- check out his great books and inspirational story....

Blog

Books

small type- book by it's cover

We have interviewed Julia Rothman before in Small about her favorite independent publications for kids. I have recently been to her site and I remembered what a great resource it is. As well as being a talented artist, author and co founder of the webdesign group ALSO, Julia collects and reviews all kinds of independent art publications. Above are some images from the independent childerens books - all reviewed and pictured on her site for you to explore..... You can take a look here..... 

Laura Wood is an Italian born illustrator residing in Australia. She has such sweet prints and cards in her online shop and lovely work to look at on her website. 

small draw- color me a lion

Here at Small we love coloring in (each issue we have published a free downloadable drawing by a great illustrator. Click here to download any of the 20 coloring in pages).

Draw me a Lion was started by artist and illustrator Lisa, to share her love of drawing, creating making and telling stories. Her website has activities, prints, cards and coloring books all drawn in her sweet exubernt style.

Lisa has just added a free download section and right now you can download for free the name stickers pictured above.

...and get these designs and more from her shop

small art

everyone should have a Statuette

Art works by Alexandra Lakin : website and on etsy

 

small decor

wee gallery for all kinds of art specifically designed for babies. We like the wall chart picturedon the left.

becky bauer for fabulous cushions, card, ceramics and prints. top right

famille summerbelle for all kinds of cool decor, hand screened prints and papercuts. Check out their printed paper cut city maps here. So cool!

 

small report- tinkerlab

Have you come across tinkerlab yet?It is my new favorite website. It is the most amazing resource for fun projects and experiments to do with kids of any age. Rachelle, the artist and mother who runs the blog, aims to engage childrens' curiosities and promote creative and critical thinking…mindsets that support children as they grow into a world that values independent thinking.

Most of the projects and activities are made with found, collected materials or things already in your home. There are tons of simple science experiments that introduce kids to the wonders around them, messy and creative projects and ideas to help kids get involved in their physical world and enable creative play. I love the post encouraging parents to let their toddlers experiement with cooking in the kitchen. 

small art - Zoé de Las Cases

Molly-meg- the wonderful vintage children's chair shop has expanded into a full design shop for kids. I found the little children wall art there by Zoe de la Cases. Zoe is a French illustrator and designer with all kinds of lovely art. accessories and paper toys on her website. I love these paper dolls and tiny fold up paper shops.

Molly Meg

Zoe de la Cases

small finds- moomah shop

So sad! Moomah the shop and craft class spot is closing March 1st. If you are in New York you still have a chance to get down there- it is such a lovely place to go with a little one. They are going to reappear in a another incarnation but in the mean time they have great prints by Jacquline Schmidt (you can read our interview with her here) and art kits in their Etsy shop

small something - the owl and the pussycat

The owl and pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat.....

Free papier mache boat pattern here from Ann Wood (or you can buy them ready made here)

Owl by Abigail Brown

Cat by Studio 13 (shop here)

small gifts- coral and tusk

Lots of lovely new stocking stuffers and gifts at Coral and Tusk. You can also read our interview with founder and designer Stephanie Houseley in issue 19 of Small

small draw- alphabet animals

My clever sister Madeleine has just finished her hand painted animal alphabet. Available as a poster, book or name plates from her Etsy store - The Academy of Gentle Arts

 

small art- judy kaufmann

Have you seen Judy Kaufmanns wonderful work? Judy is based in Barcelona and believes their should be less of a division between graphic and fine art. She has great orignal art, t-shirts and more on her sites and also does custom and comissioned work.

You can find her prints for sale in her etsy shop and you can see more of her work on her website and find out even more about her on her blog

small type- adolie day

Adolie Day has illustrated for Small several times. Her new book of paper dolls is coming out on the 27th of Novemeber - just in time for the holidays. Find out more here

Small activities- kidsfest

If you are in New York there are lots of free and fun activites fro kids during kidsfest on the 23 of October. Click here to learn more.

small inspiration #111

Photo by Brooke Shaden via Honestly WTF 

We're Going South by Kris Lewis

Found out what else is inspiring us over on Pinterest. Follow us! So we can follow you. We would love to see what's inspiring you!

small finds - love mae melamine dinnerware

Loving this new dinnerware from Love Mae that has the same patterns and graphics as their imaginative wall stickers.

Love Mae

small decor- aphorisms in print

from top left clockwise:

conilab

Sparklepower

Fifi du Vie

Print for Love of Wood

Small art- painting class

If only I was in the Bay Area.... I would be doing this painting class on October 1-2 with Small favorites- Mati Rose and Lisa Congden - sign up here

small art - Kate Durkin

Kate Durkin is having a sale on her original artwork.

Kate Durkin

small art- from the kids

a little collage my six year old brought home from school. I love it!

small finds- donna wilson

Donna Wilson has new products out and everything is lovely. You can admire it all here and find her shop here

Small finds- Julia Staite

We were lucky enough to have Julia Staite do the illustrated fashion story in the Issue 17. We loved the circus themed images she mad and now they are availble for sale in her etsy shop. If you click over there you will find - alongside her prints and stationary - these very cute alphabet blocks

Julia Staite

Etsy shop

Small projects- make a doll

We love Adolie Day and have featured her work in Small before and we are excited to tell you about a competition she is organising to encourage hand making dolls for kids and big kids! Make a doll out of any material (wood, fabric clay etc) and send an image by email to [email protected] before midnight Septemeber 14. There will be two winners- one under 12 and one above 12. The winners will recieve a copy of Adolies new book Coquette- Paper Dolls' and a signed number copy one of her prints, Pom D'Api shoes and will be exhibited in a gallery in Montmarte Paris in early 2012 alongside other doll artists.  

 

lucien freud (1922 - 2011)

Lucien Freud

small illustrator - kay van bellen

Kay Van Bellen (who illustrated a fashion story for Small- issue 15)  has new work in her shop. Lovely!

Website

Shop

happy fourth

Dream Street 1955

photo by W. Eugene Smith,  from the exhibition American Dreams

small draw- Naomi Zouwer

Naomi Zouwer was the first artist we featured in the very first issue of Small and was part of our small draw colouring book project. She has recently put out two new coloring books which you can pick up from LalaLand - the Australian publishing house for really beautiful artists' coloring books, posters, stationary and prints.

Naomi's coloring books and prints

LalaLand - a publishing world of artists

Naomi in Small

small art - urban tickle

Great modern birth announcement prints by Urban Tickle.

small draw- Jacqueline Schmidt

 
Jacquline Schmidt of Screech Owl Designs is exhibiting at the Powerhouse Arena at 37 Main Street Brooklyn, NY 11201. (You can also buy the prints at her website)

Last year we interviewed Jaquline about her role as art director at Moomah. (check out Moomah if you are in New York and if you are not, visit their website for tons of inspiration and ideas for making with kids) Read the interview here

small type - ten birds by cybele young

I spotted Ten Birds by Cybele Young at the library and the books pen and ink illustrations caught my so me and the girls checked it out. When we read it before bed I was smitten with the adorable story of common sense and the inventive birds trying to get across the river.

Cybele Young is an artist who creates sculptural works from fine Japanese papers often printed from etched copper plates. Her inspirations come from fleeting day-to-day experiences while her creativity flourishes in the mundane, where small observations become fantastic.

I Didn't See That Part
2008 by Cybele Young

Cybele Young

Ten Birds By Cybele Young

small art and inspiration

I love this little story. I think it illustrates why we love making this magazine.

Anne Siems (who we invited to make the illustrated fashion story for issue 17) has just sent us this amazing painting she has made, inspired by the photo story in this issue of Small.-The shoot is Wilderness Queens- photographed by our photo editor Steve Visneau and styled by Christine.

The image from Wilderness Queens

Anne Siems' story in issue 16 of Small....it just occurred to me....maybe the little Bunny with the deer antlers was the subliminal inspiration for the Wilderness Queen antlers.  Also, maybe the earthy colors of Anne's paintings inspired the props by Sarah Tippetts.

small art- I give you the world

From Double Merrick - a new limited edition print of La Terre. The beautiful La Lune poster (and many others) is also available in their shop (in A3 size only).

small projects - tiny us

Tiny Us is a creative charity project dedicated to raising funds for "Présence", an educational institute for young handicapped individuals.

Go to Tiny Us and order Paper doll sets and Paper Dolls cards. When ordering, you choose the amount of money you wish to pay and the entirety of this donation will be given to the school.

The school is located in the south of France in La Seyne sur Mer. The school caters for 85 children, adolescent and young adults between the age of 4 and 20 with different degrees of intellectual disabilities.

 

A paper doll to please a child and help other children all in one go!

Tiny Us

small art- catherine welshman

Catherine Welshman has a new website so you can see all her loveliness online. She is one of my favorite painters and was a big inspiration to me when we lived on the same floor of a loft in Brooklyn. Her work often touches on themes of childhood, fairytales and imagination.

small interview- lorna freytag

We featured Lorna Freytag in the last issue of Small (in our ongoing small photo project which looks at how different photographers interpret being small). We were intrigued by her image and wanted to find out more vbaout her work. Thanks for talking to us Lorna

Can you tell us a bit about your background? Have you always been interested in childhood as a theme in your work?  

I studied Visual Communication at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen, Scotland which is where my love of photography really started.

I met my husband whilst studying there and after graduating he was offered a  job in Dubai so I followed. I worked as a photo assistant for two British advertising photographers out there for a couple of years which was an amazing experience. I learned everything i needed to know! Then my husband got an opportunity in New York so again I followed and worked for a year as an assistant for a great fashion and still life photographer. Another amazing experience! Sydney happened the same way but by then I started trying to find my own style, coming up with childrens story ideas and working on my portfolio. Four years later we moved back to the UK and found ourselves in London. I got myself an agent and started working on editorial commissions and my folio got bigger and better from then on. I've now worked with most of the kids fashion magazines including Junior and Collezioni Bambini and have done some great projects for Harrods kidswear and other childrens fashion boutiques.

 

I find that you can be more free with your ideas for kids pictures- the sky is the limit and you can really let your imagination go wild. I enjoy working with kids too as you're never certain as to how they will act and that's a breath of fresh air for me as i'm quite a control freak. You just need a lot of patience and a good sense of humour! I like to make the kids look quite independent and mature in my images  like they're on their own and can manage perfectly well. I'm a fan of old classical "Victorian" pictures with strong poses, controlled expressions and muted colours. 

What inspired your most recent series? 

My trip to Tasmania was my starting point for the Feral series. The amazing landscapes which are still so wild and untamed. It's actually very similar to Scotland but has more of a "wildness" about it.  Nature inspires most of my work- sun dappled woods, dark forests, dramatic skies.....

Then I spend a while day-dreaming and conjuring up ideas and sketches before working out the shoots. I have sketchbooks filled with ideas!

What is the process behind creating your images?

The process for all my shoots is very similar. Working from my scribbled sketches I shoot all the background elements (eg. landscapes, props, skies etc)  and usually do rough layered mock-ups so that i can visualise how and where i want the children to be. Then i spend a day or more with the kids and shoot them against a white background in the studio. After editing i begin my retouching and that's when the images start to come alive. 

 

The children you depict are very different from the technologically savvy well dressed kids we all know. Your last series about an imaginary tribe of feral children in Tasmania seems to comment on children's diminishing independence over the last few decades. Do you think some independence and danger might be positive dimension in childhood?

Compared to children nowadays I feel that I had a lot of freedom as a kid and my parents generation probably had even more free rein. I think it's an important part of growing up, becoming independent and finding out your limits. There are risks and dangers all through life and if you start to manage and overcome small dangers when you're younger i think you're better equipped to deal with real life!! There's no fun in playing it safe all the time!!

There are quite a few photographers who use children as models and show a side of childhood that adults might be less comfortable with than a more sanitised disney depiction. (for example Polixeni Papapetrou, Sally Mann and Bill Henson) Do you identify with their work? Do you have any  experience with the kind of criticism they have attracted? 

I love all their work and I can see how some of their images can be uncomfortable and at times controversial but so far I've never experienced any criticism on my themes. Most of my work is dreamy and "nice" so it was a refreshing change to work on something slightly darker and depicting a bit more danger with the Feral series.

Photographers, maybe more than other artists, often have a conflict or tension between their commercial and creative work. Can you survive off your creative work or do you need to use your artform more comerically to make a living? 

I would love to be able to survive off my creative work but unfortunately it just isn't possible. I do enjoy most of the commercial and editorial work I do though and it's always nice to try and work my style into someone elses concept. I also do private portrait commissions of children (Lorna's Portraits) and can create bespoke images for people depending on their childs personality, hobbies etc

Also my first childrens picture book for Walker Books (in collaboration with author Jeanne Willis) will be out in January 2012 which i'm really excited about.  It's called "Wild Child" but it's very different to the wild kids in the feral series.

What direction are you going with your work? 

Working on a childrens book was a dream come true for me so i'd love to do another one. I'm developing some ideas at the moment......

I also have another series in the pipeline with a more technological, futuristic theme which i hope to work on before my first baby is due in October!

See all of Lorna Freytag's lovely works here: art work and portraits

small art - Camilla Engman

I can't stop looking at these paintings by Camilla Engman. I think they are inspiring a photo shoot...

small art - rock that horse

These posters from Rock that Horse would add just the right amount of edginess to any kid's room.

Small finds - the owls

Recently when my youngest is meant to be asleep he comes out, blinking in the light, to tell me that the owls in his room are scaring him. There are no owls, not even toy ones, but when I go in and shoo them away he falls straight to sleep. I am not sure why he became scared of owls, but we have been looking at pictures of some sweet and loveable owls to make them less frightening.

Here are some of the cutest owls-

Happy Owl by Matt Stephens

Owls in a tree by Helen Musslewhite. (check out all her paper work- it is amazing!)

Owl Pillow by Little Korboose

2 black owls by Olofsdaughter

 

The winners of the Nellystella giveaway are Flora (size8) Kati (size 6) and Staci (size 3). Lucky you! Please contact us with your details.

small decor - aphorisms

Ros Shiers

cross stich by Chez Sucre Chez

Dear Collen

small art- for the kids

Four new (to me) illustrators I love.  I think any one of these posters would look great in a kids room.

ABC poster by Deuz

Herd by Lee May Foster-Wilson

Tapdancing by Violet May

Collection of the Best by Hanna Mellin

Small decor- more about walls

If you don't live conveniently close to one of the wall muralists we featured last week but are still interested in a bespoke wall covering Little Hands might be just what you are looking for. Little Hands is the work of two Portuguese artists, Leonor and Marta.  They have a huge catalog and can make any theme for any wall. They can even include personalised elements and names. The wallpaper arrives ready to go up and the image is designed to fit perfectly. We love how they look up on the wall!

Small decor- wall art

Walls painted by the new Paris based company, Bartsch. Their current collection of murals are inspired by the cycle of the day. Twice a year they will add to their catalogue but will continue to be inspired by the seasons and colours of the natural world.

Some new work by New York based artist and muralist Ami Suma (who we have written about here.) The first image is Theo's room and the second image is from the lovely Yoya store in New York.

small art - in ameliart

Meet Mrs. Rabbit and Elephant. By In Ameliart.

small illustration - Judy Kaufmann

I love these Famous Prints illustrated by Judy Kaufmann.  The John Lennon print would be perfect in your budding musicians room.

Judy Kaufmann

small art - confetti system

I'm still feeling a little festive (lazy) from the holiday season and can't seem to get back to work! Pulled from the depths of my inspiration folders from my desktop, these beautiful installations from Confetti System are brightening up my morning. I would love to use these in a photo shoot.

confetti system

small photography- Camille Levert

Camille is a French photographer who aims to capture the real/dream world of play

from her site: "It is said that children do not distinguish between living and inanimate objects; I believe they do. A child imparts a doll or tin soldier with magical life-breath. The artists animates his work as the child his toys." (Patti Smith Just Kids,  2010)

etsy shop