Book Arts: "Art as a healing tool"

Today I discovered another amazing arts project in New York and it is hard to describe my fascination. The moment I held the book art in my hand today, books created by people who recover from psychiatric disabilities, I knew I had to share this with you immediately. Looking at the individual books made me feel like I was looking at something really personal, it was a bit like taking a peek at someone else's diary. The honesty of the art is what I found most touching. The Art Collective, which is part of the New York Community Access platform, uses art as a healing tool for helping people recover from psychiatric disabilities. It expands opportunities for personal and artistic development in visual and literary arts and helps these people develop their own language. It is the only one of its kind in mental health services that specializes in teaching Book Arts: the process of creating, designing, writing, binding and exhibiting unique and limited edition handmade books. 

The Art Collective

621 Water Street

New York, NY 10002

212-780-1400, ext. 2000/1

If you would like to donate visit Community Access homepage: 

http://www.cairn.org/ways-to-give

Meeting illustrator Juliane Pieper in New York

gorgeous illustrator Juliane Pieper encouraged me to sketch, even though I think I'm just not made to be an artist. 

I met Juliane in Brooklyn with a gorgeous view of the Brooklyn Bridge, where Juliane discovered 

some gorgeous plastic material which she immediatley collected for her collages. Juliane is an 

illustrator originally from Germany, two years ago she received a Fulbright Scholarship and moved to New York. She recently completed her Master's degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology. We talked a lot about the possibilites of illustrators in the digital world, it was an amazing and very creative day! Her work has been featured in newspapers like the The New York Times. Max Bode at the New Yorker recently complimented her work »Juliane's work is bright and full of energy, which is a combo that is sorely needed in today's illustration world. It's refreshing to see someone who seamlessly breathes new life into illustration. A+«
 She was really amazed by the ideas for my startup, this kind of encouragement made me really happy! 

Kristen Cavallo "Cute Stories"

Kristen Cavallo is an illustrator from New York. With tradeyourtalent she speaks about comic 

strips, cute stories and why her goal is to illustrate a children's book. 

Kristen Cavallo, kristencavallo.com

You're an aspiring children's book illustrator. What would you do if could you get your first book published?

It's been a goal of mine to be a children's book illustrator or writer/illustrator.   I'd be really excited to have a book published by a major publishing company.  It would be such an honor to be apart of the Children's Illustration community.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

As a child, I used to copy the comic strips from the funny pages.  My Illustration style has evolved and is still changing as I am continually inspired. I am attracted to whimsical illustrations with quick line-drawn and textured qualities. I am a fan of children's book illustrators like Ezra Jack Keats, Miroslav Sasek, Quentin Blake, Shel Silverstein, and many others. 

Kristen Cavallo, kristencavallo.com

Which characters do you like to illustrate?

I like doodling children with personality who look like they have a funny or cute story attached to them.  I often sketch characters and then make up a back story on them.  I often wish I had more time to create finished illustrations on a lot of my quick character drawings.

If you could choose another illustrator to collaborate with, who would it be?

I love the work of, accomplished children's book illustrator, Kristin Sorra.  She and I worked together at the same company as graphic designers and she taught me a lot about illustration. She currently works as a freelance illustrator and has illustrated many children's books. One of my favorite writers is Sally Lloyd-Jones.  I briefly met her at one of her own book reading events.  I like the perspective in her writing and I love her humor--I would be very excited to illustrate one of her books.  I also love all of the Mo Willems books.

Since when do you love to draw?

I think when I was around 6 or 7 year old.  My mom is an artist and she has been a great influence and encouragement in my life and in my artistic endeavors.

Kristen Cavallo, kristencavallo.com

New York, New York

Finally time to blog about my first weeks in New York. Yes, weeks ! And I haven't really been able to write about it up until now. To be honest, it took me some time to get used to NYC (hope I'm not the only one). Everything is louder and hotter - today I was practically melting, I will never complain again in Berlin about the temperatures. The city is chaotic but somehow everything still flows, even the traffic at some point (However, I will never get the part where you're allowed to cross the road when the light is red, I tried it one time New York style and almost got run over by a taxi. Now I'm always the only person waiting to cross the road - is that pathetic? ) But slowly I'm getting used to this new speed of the city.

I also have another confession to make. I didn't visit one museum yet, not the Guggenheim, not the Whitney... I wanted to give you juicy art stories from the Big Apple, but somehow I've been more occupied with getting to know this city and its people first. Which has been exciting on its own terms. It's interesting how this city has so many different looks, the Upper East Side is totally glamourous but somehow also a bit boring (sorry Upper East Siders, but it's true) and once you go downtown or to Brooklyn you sometimes don't even remember you're in New York (and I haven't been to many parts of the city yet!). Prospect Park is definitely adorable!

Plus a very good tip: I love the Italian Café "Eataly" next to Madison Park, the coffee is awesome and it's fun watching people walk down 5th Avenue.

One of my greatest moments up until now was a surprising experience with a friend of mine, who, I discovered, is an amazing photographer. We were walking through the streets of Brooklyn and she was taking pictures of families living in her hometown. I enjoyed being able to watch how she worked as a photographer, talking to the people she took pictures of as if they'd know each other for years. It also takes some confidence to walk up to strangers and ask "Can I take a picture of you?" I haven't realized before what an intimate question that is. When I worked as a freelance journalist I often walked up to strangers for interviews, but taking a picture of them is even more private somehow. I have always wanted to know more about how photographers create art, who the people behind the lens are and how they manage to transform a small moment into something much bigger.

I'm sorry for not being more artsy for you today, but I still wanted to fill you in on my first impressions of New York!