I love any story about an artist, writer, musician, who strives against all odds to create the work they know that they were born to create, and the story of Augusta Savage, sculptor, is one of triumph against the greatest of odds.
Augusta had too many strikes against her for making it in this world. She was not only a woman, she was an African-American woman, born in 1892 in the Deep South in Florida, and born to a father who tried to thwart all her early attempts to make things out of clay.
Her story is told in a brand-new 2009 children's picture book, In Her Hands, written by Alan Schroeder, illustrated by JaeMe Bereal.
Alan Schroeder, most engagingly, tells Augusta's story from her childhood in Florida to her acceptance into Cooper Union Art School in New York City in 1921.
There was a pit of "just-waiting-to-be-shaped-into-something clay" behind her house when she was a child, Schroeder writes. It is with this red clay of the earth that Augusta makes her first clay figures, of ducks, chickens, pigs.
Schroeder does not mince words about the difficulty of her journey, for it seems that her father might have been her most terrible hurdle. He literally crushed her early clay sculptures, for he did not understand her art or her talent. But even he was brought around in the end.
I love the detail of the light bulb on the cover, showing the artist late at night, working into the wee hours, with just a bare bulb and the spark of her own inner glow to keep her going.
But there is another glow in this lovely book.
JaeMe Bereal, whose paintings are stunningly beautiful, has taken the warm orange-red color of the clay that began Augusta's journey and melted this color into every illustration, leaving an impression of deep and abiding warmth on every page. As you leaf through this book, you will see this glowing sunset color everywhere, in a house here, a horse there, a face, a vase, a dress, the fiery light in a window, the bright ground beneath children's feet.
The end papers of this book are little pictures, set in ovals, like Victorian silhouettes, of all her early clay figures. A very lovely way to give them a special place in this rich and thoughtful book.
(Photo copyright Morgan and Marvin Smith, courtesy of Monica P. Smith and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
I very much like it that this picture book includes some extra information about Augusta in the last two pages, with some photos of her work. The sculpture in the forefront in this photo captured me completely. It is called "The Harp." It is 16 feet tall, and you can see Augusta working on it.
The strings of the harp are children, standing straight and tall, with their mouths open in song. I love how the hand that forms the frame of the harp so lovingly cups all the children in its palm. This makes you realize what a perfect title, In Her Hands, is for this book!
Yes, indeed, Augusta Savage created the whole world in her hands, the wind and the rain, the ducks and the chickens, and a handful of singing children, too.
May you make something with your own hands this weekend and find yourself safe in the loving hands of the world!
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Note: This book is a gift from Lee & Low Books, and will be donated to the Austin Public Library for many children to enjoy. Lee & Low Books is an independent children's book publisher with a focus on diversity.
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