writers

13 Artists Children Should Know

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

I’ve been packing up a bag of children’s books to donate. (In case you’re wondering, we usually donate our books to the public library, little free libraries, and Big Sunday, a wonderful organization here in Los Angeles.)

That’s how I came across my son’s copy of 13 Artists Children Should Know by Angela Wenzel. We bought this book many years ago during one of our visits to the Getty Center. And rather than immediately place the book in the donation bag, I decided to read it. It had been years since we had gone through it, and I had forgotten which artists had made the cut and were included in the book. 

Vincent van Gogh is one of the artists featured in the book. Our family likes van Gogh. He painted a series of sunflower pictures, which happen to be my favorite flower. Plus, my son not only shares his birthday with his Grandma, my mom, but also Vincent van Gogh.

Claude Monet is included. (I love his Water Lilies and have a framed print hanging in our bedroom. We also have a framed print of Impression: Sunrise, 1872; both prints were bought in Paris twenty years ago.) 

Other artists included in the book are Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci. Names we all recognize. 

Among the thirteen, only two were women — Mary Cassatt and Frida Kahlo.

(If you’re curious, the rest of the list includes: Marc Chagall, Franz Marc, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Jan Vermeer, and Henri Rousseau.)

And as I read through the book, I wondered — who decided which artists to include. Why these twelve? 

Likewise, why during his high school years, did my son read The Catcher in the Rye? The Great Gatsby? Romeo and Juliet? 

I’m not saying these literary pieces aren’t worthy of being read. 

But I am saying I read these same pieces of literature, in the same high school, thirty years ago.

We really need to expand the lists of artists, authors, and musicians young people “should” know. 

Do you agree? If you were putting together a book of artists, or writing a list of books to be taught in a public high school, who or what would you include? I’m really curious; feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Charming Notes

Posted on by Wendy Kennar

It wasn’t my idea. 

I got it from Carolyn See and her fantastic book Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers. (If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. I’ve read this book several times, and each time, I find something new that touches me. Each time, I also laugh out loud.)

Here’s what Carolyn See said in Chapter 4 – Charming Notes:

“…you write one charming note to a novelist, an editor, a journalist, a poet, a sculptor, even an agent whose professional work or reputation you admire, five days a week, for the rest of your life. Then after you write the note, you address it, put a stamp on it, and mail it out. These notes are like paper airplanes sailing around the world, and they accomplish a number of things at once.

“They salute the writer (or editor or agent in question). They say to him or her: Your work is good and admirable! You’re not laboring in a vacuum. There are people out in the world who know what you do and respect it.

“The notes are also saying: I exist, too. In the same world as you. Isn’t that amazing? They can also say: Want to play?”

I don’t write “charming notes” five days a week. But I do make an effort to contact a writer and let him/her know their words touched me. Sometimes, I look up their website and fill out the “contact me form.” Sometimes, I write them an email. Now that I’m on Instagram (@wendykennar), sometimes I comment on one of their photos related to what I just read. 

Sometimes I hear back — a simple “thank you,” a longer, several-line email. 

And sometimes, I receive no reply. But that’s okay.

Because I know I wrote the notes, and I like to think my “charming notes-paper airplanes” are out in the world, flying about, spreading bits of goodness and positivity. 

And that’s enough for me.