She placed the moon in the sky

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, February 18, 2004

The mother of ‘Grandfather Twilight’ shows two decades of children’s book art.

In an exhibit nearly as fleeting as the twilight in one of her most celebrated children’s stories, author Barbara Berger shows original art from her illustrious career.

For three days next weekend, images that evoke 20 years of wonderful story-telling swim, stroll, climb and fly around the walls of Bainbridge Arts and Crafts.

A week from hanging the show, the framed works are propped against the chairs, tables and walls of Berger’s island studio.

Taking them out of the archival boxes where they’ve been stored – in most instances for years – has been like greeting old friends, Berger says.

“It’s ‘oh there you are, my little sweetie pie,’” she said. “It’s been wonderful to revisit that time through the original art.”

Otters swim on the diagonal through the picture plane. In another painting, an old man passes through evening woods where a luminescent pearl floats.

“There’s the painting that inspired the book,” Berger said, referring to her popular “Grandfather Twilight,” first published in 1984. “I think of it as the ‘ancestor.’ The pearl came from a visionary experience I had one night.”

Other detailed acrylic and colored pencil paintings depict whole cities on the heads of pins, and monks ascending a mountain, images from “The Donkey’s Dream,” “When the Sun Rose,” “The Jewel Heart,” and Berger’s most recent, “All The Way To Lhasa: A Tale From Tibet.”

When the show opens, Fortner Books will have first editions of many of the books on hand, collectors’ copies signed by by the author.

These books are rarer than some first editions, however, because autographing books is something Berger can no longer do.

With the flare-up of an old injury, Berger is taking a break from the books to give her hand a chance to heal.

“This is very fine, detailed style over the years that’s taken a certain toll,” she said.

But it was the last book tour that pushed her to consider a change, Berger says.

“I’ve had to progressively back off,” she said, “first by going to a signature stamp and then even that, with the repetitive action, the many requests…I’ve had to make the difficult decision not to do inscriptions. It was a hard choice, but I need to preserve my hand.”

What might seem a setback may have opened a new door for Berger, allowing her to explore at her own pace – a contrast to all-consuming book projects that have her producing enough art for a single book to fill a solo gallery show.

“To sustain the narrative thread and the whole feeling of the book, you can’t mix it with other artmaking,” she said.

While Berger admits that art does have its magic, much of the enterprise hinges on the self-discipline to persist despite tedium.

Now she will have the chance to push off in a new direction.

A workshop last fall at BAC with master collagist Jonathan Talbot has inspired Berger to try collage.

“I’ve been wanting for a long time explore other kinds of art for myself,” she said. “I’ve been making myself certificates of permission out of collage.

“It isn’t necessarily about leaving children’s books behind forever, but it’s about allowing myself the opportunity to explore some other thing things, too.”