Thursday, January 6, 2011

Day 3: Demi in Fairy Tale Art: Illustrations from Children's Books

Demi was also featured in the Fairy Tale Art exhibit. Although The Empty Pot is a favorite of mine--and many others--I didn't know much about the illustrator herself.

From Baltimore County Public Library:
Charlotte Demi Hunt Huang was born in Cambridge Massachusetts and began drawing at an early age. By the age of two she was already drawing on walls and other surfaces. Her mother was a well known artist who mainly worked in watercolors. Demi loved the art studio with its paint smells, the beautiful watercolors, the brushes, paper, canvas and board. Her father was an architect and also had connections to the theater. Demi and her family enjoyed the arts and having friends that were artists.

At the Instituto Allende in Mexico Demi studied murals, weaving, ceramics, painting and drawing. From there she went to Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. A Fullbright scholarship took her to India. After returning to the United States she published the first of many books, a collection of East Indian Folk Tales.

Demi is married to Tze-si Jesse Huang, and has listened to him tell the folk tales and fables that he had heard as a child. The Empty Pot and The Magic Boat are two of her books that came about through his retelling.
You can read more about her at Demi Biography, too.  Now for her illustrations. What you miss most in the translation of these to digital images is the overlaid gold leaf on many of the illustrations. So where you see gold, imagine a richer, fuller body to the color.


























Featured books:

The Emperor's New Clothes: A Tale Set in China Firebird The Hungry Coat: A Tale from Turkey

Other books illustrated by Demi:

The Empty Pot Buddha Muhammad

Mary The Girl Who Drew a Phoenix One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale

The Greatest Power  Jesus The Magic Pillow

The Dragon's Tale: and Other Animal Fables of the Chinese Zodiac Tutankhamun Happy, Happy Chinese New Year!

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