After last week, I started perusing some of the poet/poetry book recommendations and came across a familiar illustration style on the covers of a couple of titles from the late Nancy Willard like Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. They were illustrated by Leo and Dianne Dillon, who I think is my favourite illustration team. In their interviews they talk of the idea of the 'third artist', where both of their contributions would culminate into something completely different from what they could come up with individually.
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| Cover for Mansa Musa (2001) /Published by Harcourt Children's Books |
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| Illustration from Pish, Posh, said Hieronymus Bosch. Published by Harcourt |
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| 1991. Published by Harcourt Children's Books |
The third artist thing reminds me of an episode of Hidden Brain, where it explores the 'edge effect' which is traditionally an ecological concept. It's the point where two different ecosystems meet, and often allows for greater diversity in an area. It's an idea that inspired Yo Yo Ma's musical group Silk Road Ensemble, an eclectic mix of sounds from around the world. How often are we utilising collaboration or taking two contrasting ideas to make something different?
This weekend I'll probably start reading some of the books that arrived from the hold queue at the library. To have a more direct poetry link for today, here's a bit of a poem from the back cover of one of the books A Strange Place to Call Home by Marilyn Singer.
Where it's dark
Where it's deep
Where it's stormy
Where it's steep
Where the rain rarely falls
or the water always races
They survive
strive to thrive
in a world of risky places.
It sounds like I'll have an interesting time learning about different places that animals live in. For the rest of youse, check out the Poetry Friday line up at Carol's blog Beyond Literacy Link :)
