Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art



On the way back from the Berkshires last year, we stopped at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. The kids were all museum'ed out after visiting so many museums during this rainy trip. We were all pleasantly surprised when we finally arrived after our new GPS took us through many miles of back roads (it is accessible through the highways but we opted for the "scenic" route).

The featured exhibits were works of Allen Say and the artwork for The Spiderwick Chronicles movie. I had never heard of Allen Say, and the original watercolors that were on display were breathtaking. We would open the books provided and search for its paintings on the wall. We bought Emma's Rug at the store because the girl reminded us of Dova, and after returning home, we borrowed every one of his books from the library. In the Spiderwick exhibit, there were full models of the sets used and you almost felt as though you just walked into the movie.

I was all photographed out as well, so I only had my iPhone to take pictures (not in the exhibits of course). Here are a smattering of pictures from the main hall, book store, hands-on art studio, and even the bathroom which had tiles from Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? book. It's a bit out of the way to visit, but it is a beautiful, peaceful sanctuary with art that children can really appreciate.

In the Eric Carle museum In the Eric Carle museum bookstore
Mermaid In the Eric Carle museum bathroom
In the Eric Carle museum bathroom In the Eric Carle museum bathroom

2 comments :

Melissa said...

WOW!

My kids would so groove on that!

Spouse has to go to Boston a lot on business. Maybe we could do a boondoogle trip and go there over the summer. It would be worth it.

Anonymous said...

My sister lives in a neighboring town, so we have an excuse to make the hour-long drive from Central CT.

Within the galleries are benches with bins filled with the books in which the displayed art was published. The craft room is enormous, bright, and great for all ages.

It's just a short drive down route 9 to Northampton for funky grown up shops or a nice lunch out, or even closer, Atkins Farm store is on the same street.

The scenery (Holyoke Range) is beautiful, and there is a convenient bike trail. Definitely worth a day trip!