The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) is a vital and integral part of Abilene’s Downtown District, bringing award winning artwork from children’s picture books to the community. The first and only museum of its kind in the country, the NCCIL exhibits, tours, collects and preserves original art from the finest children’s literature.
This June the NCCIL will celebrate the arrival of Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos & Toys in the Attic, also the centerpiece of this year’s Children’s Art and Literacy Festival. More than 38 million copies of Walter Wick’s books have been sold worldwide. Best known for his search-and-find photographs, he is the author, creator, and photographer of the Can You See What I See? Series, and is also the co-creator and photographer of the I Spy books. Wick has also authored and photographed two other award winning science books, A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder and Walter Wick’s Optical Tricks.
As part of the opening festivities, we are excited to announce the OpArt Contest. Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions. An optical illusion is always characterized by visually perceived images that are deceptive or misleading. Optical illusions can be literal (a flock of birds flying the sky), at times physiological (like the grid illusion), or cognitive (like the Curious Cube or the Tricky Triangle). When looking at a piece of Op art, the viewer is often left with an impression of some movement, hidden images, flashing, vibration, patterns or swelling and/ or warping of the drawn object. This contest, open to all elementary, middle, and high school students, will celebrate the optical illusions created in Wick’s books.
Each school will submit three finalists per grade to the NCCIL by April 30th and the NCCIL’s panel of judges will score all the submitted entries. Two finalists from each grade level will be selected and the winning art will be displayed at the NCCIL during a special reception at ArtWalk on May 9th at 6:30pm. For more information, please call Sujata Shahane at 325-673-4586 or email sshahane@nccil.org.
2013 Summer Art Camps registration is now open! Visit www.nccil.org or stop by the NCCIL to register your child for an unforgettable week of art, books and fun!
The NCCIL is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00am to 4:00pm and every Saturday we offer a free children’s art activity in our art studio from 1-4pm. Admission to the NCCIL is always free thanks to the generosity of our members! Visit our website, www.nccil.org, for more information on upcoming events and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see the latest sales and special offers in our NCCIL bookstore!
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