The Artist

Product Information

There is something very special about that space in between the pictures and the words. A place which asks your imagination to fill the gap. A good picture book should leave room between words and pictures. Pictures don’t simply illustrate the words – they tell their own story, on a multitude of levels. If we make time to examine them. We understand complex expressions and emotions through drawings from a very early age, in ways we can’t yet do with the written word or spoken language. Vere has worked with the Britten Sinfonia and the Neil Cowley Trio to stage live concerts for schools and family audiences. With the Britten Sinfonia, adaptations of Mr Big and Max the Brave have been staged in concerts which bring together live drawing and classical music, the most recent at The Barbican Centre. The concerts were devised with and presented by Hannah Conway. Ed worked with CLPE toco-createthe award winning Power of Picturesprogrammewhich encourages visual literacy in primary schooleducation andhas received major funding from the Arts Council, EEF & RSA.You can read an article in The Guardian relating to this work here .

Ed has performed on stage, live drawing with (amongst others) The Britten Sinfoniaand The Neil Cowley Triofor the 'Mr Big plays Jazz' concerts. Selected venues have been; The Barbican Centre (London), Wigmore Hall (London), The Hexagon (Reading), Saffron Hall (Saffron Waldon), Norwich Cathedral and Cuirt International Literary Festival in Galway, Ireland. A young dinosaur artist (looking a bit like a T-rex but a cute one) sees the dinosaur world as full of joy and beauty, something that some dinosaurs are too busy to notice. She sees all that, draws and paints it and makes it into her art. Later she decides to go live in the city with lots of empty walls to paint so more people can see her art and really look. But she has a crisis of confidence when she starts to make mistakes and colour outside the lines - she almost gives up on art until she finds out it’s the heart in art that really matters. From the award-winning Ed Vere comes a joyful and inspirational celebration of beauty, mistakes and the artist in all of us

Vere staged 'Mr Big plays Jazz' at Wigmore Hall, London & Birmingham Symphony & Town Halls with the Neil Cowley Trio. By the time a child arrives at primary school they’re able to use this visual vocabulary creatively when they‘read’pictures and when they draw, yet we don’t harness either. Worse still, most children have given up drawing by the age of 9 or 10 (believing there’s a right and wrong way – there isn’t). In doing so, they lose a vital form of self-expression which they don’t have another outlet for. Careless of us in these times where we’re supposedly more aware than ever of emotional wellbeing.

One brave little artist goes on one epic adventure to share her art, and in doing so learns that it doesn't matter if you colour outside the lines, that art is full of heart... and that maybe you are an artist too! A piece written for 'Teach Primary' magazine about my 'Power of Pictures'visual literacy work with CLPE) This witty, resonant picture book is a manual for anyone's life, young or old." Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week Ed Vere is an award winning and New York Times bestselling writer & illustrator of picture books. He is a patron at CLPE and isthe artist in residence at the Born Free Foundation.Puffin started out as a non-fiction publisher, with its first title appearing in 1940. As the most iconic and well-known children’s book brand in the UK today, we are always on the lookout for innovative ways to tell the world’s favourite stories and for brilliant new debut talent and brands that connect with today’s young readers, from newborn up to twelve years old. Mae deinosor ifanc sy'n artist yn gweld y byd fel lle llawn llawenydd a harddwch – rhywbeth y mae rhai deinosoriaid yn rhy brysur i sylwi arno. Mae hi'n tynnu llun ac yn paentio'r llawenydd a'r harddwch hwnnw ac yn creu ei chelf ohono. Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week(Ireland)-'Perfect for creative minds, Ed Vere’s beautiful children’s book The Artistfollows a young dinosaur on a mission to share her art with others...This book features joyful illustrations and a powerful message about what it means to be an artist.' - Lynn Enright Booklist- 'Realizing that making mistakes is part of the process could be a game-changer for the many kids who can't conquer their discouragement when their art falls short of their expectations.'