Looking for a good read for your kids or grandkids this holiday season? Here are 6 books on folk and self-taught artists (with one honorable mention!) approved by my kids. Purchase these online or from your local bookstore — don’t give Amazon any of your money this holiday season!
Llinks to each book found below.
Shop them all at the FolkArtwork Bookshop page, which supports local and independent bookstores. Thanks to Des Moines Public Library for carrying most of these and my 8-year-old for being my book model!
1. Elijah Pierce
You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!: The Storied Life of Folk Artist Elijah Pierce
A picture book biography about the barber shop of woodcarver Elijah Pierce, recipient of the highest folk art honor in the United States.
2. Judith Scott
Unbound: The Life and Art of Judith Scott
A moving and powerful introduction to the life and art of renowned artist, Judith Scott, as told by her twin sister, Joyce Scott and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist, Melissa Sweet.
3. Horace Pippin
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
As a child in the late 1800s, Horace Pippin loved to draw: He loved the feel of the charcoal as it slid across the floor. He loved looking at something in the room and making it come alive again in front of him. He drew pictures for his sisters, his classmates, his co-workers. Even during W.W.I, Horace filled his notebooks with drawings from the trenches . . . until he was shot.
4. Maud Lewis
A Tulip in Winter: A Story about Folk Artist Maud Lewis
Known for her vibrant and cheerful paintings of landscapes, plants, and animals, Maud Lewis’ iconic folk art is celebrated around the world. Despite her beautiful art, she spent much of her life living in poverty with rheumatoid arthritis. From bright paintings of the sea and countryside, to the flowers and birds she painted on the walls of the small house she shared with her husband, Maud’s work continues to delight and inspire viewers young and old.
5. Clementine Hunter
Art From Her Heart: Folk Artist Clementine Hunter
A picture book biography of the remarkable folk artist Clementine Hunter. Can you imagine being an artist who isn’t allowed into your own show? That’s what happened to folk artist Clementine Hunter. Her paintings went from hanging on her clothesline to hanging in museums, yet because of the color of her skin, a friend had to sneak her in when the gallery was closed.
6. American Folk Art Museum
Critters A to Z: American Folk Art Museum
Critters A to Z was created with the American Folk Art Museum, using its extensive archive of materials, to heighten children’s awareness of the diversity of American culture and our common heritage and to introduce them to the many forms of expression available to artists.
…out of print but could be found on ebay i think?!
7. Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois and more!
13 Women Artists Children Should Know
This book teaches a young audience about the works and lives of thirteen women artists through informative texts, puzzles, coloring exercises, and fun quizzes. In colorful spreads that feature important works as well as portraits of the artists themselves, children will learn how Sofonisba Anguissola, the Renaissance painter and pupil of Michelangelo, mastered portraiture in the Spanish Court; how the exquisitely wrought illustrations of Maria Sybilla Merian advanced the study of nature in the seventeenth century; and how Mary Cassatt’s paintings depicted the lives of women in the nineteenth century. Modern and contemporary artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois, and Cindy Sherman round out this introduction to women artists for children.
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