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Summary
Summary
Come behind the scenes of Georgia O'Keeffe's famous flower paintings to her sustainable homestead in New Mexico, where art was everything and everything was art.
Most of us have heard the name Georgia O'Keeffe-- she's one of the most famous women in art history. But did you know that for most of her life, she lived on her own land in New Mexico, grew her own food, bought locally, and even made her own clothing?
Georgia's garden and her art fed and enriched one another, just as her bean plants enriched the soil and her home-grown feasts fed her friends. In spite of the era's prejudice against female artists, Georgia lived and thrived in her verdant sanctuary well into old age.
Soothing and inspiring, Gifts from Georgia's Garden illuminates the life and philosophy of a figure every child should know. Backmatter adds context to O'Keeffe's story and invites families to try out her sustainable gardening techniques-- and her pecan butterball cookies.
Gifts for Georgia's Garden is the latest in Lisa Robinson's collection of thoughtful, artfully-told picture book biographies on figures who broke the mold and made history because of it. Hadley Hooper, a painter in her own right and the illustrator of books about Matisse ( The Iridescence of Birds ) and Giacometti ( Two Brothers, Four Hands ), perfectly evokes Georgia O'Keeffe's style with pictures that burst with color and life.
Author Notes
Lisa Robinson is the author of several picture books, including Pirates Don't Go to Kindergarten! , a GoodReads Choice nominee; The Sweetest Scoop: Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Revolution , and Were I Not A Girl: The Inspiring Story Of Dr. James Barry . She holds an MFA in Creative Writing for Young People from Lesley University. Lisa lives with her family and cats in the Boston area, where she and her daughters enjoy practicing aerial silks at their local circus studio.
Hadley Hooper is a painter and illustrator whose artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums in major cities such as San Francisco, Toronto, New York, Denver, and Santa Fe. As a picture book illustrator, she has worked with bestselling authors such as Patricia Maclachlan, Liz Garton Scanlon, and Jan Greenberg. She lives in Denver with her partner Hugh Graham, and their dog Augie.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tired of New York City's "cars, crowds, and skyscrapers," Georgia O'Keeffe (1887--1986), who'd been painting large, lush flowers, escapes to the "canyons, mesas, and skyscapes" of New Mexico. There, she gets in touch with both the land and her younger self--the Wisconsin farm girl determined to be an artist. O'Keeffe cultivates a garden and paints to the rhythms of nature as well as welcomes friends to simple, bountiful meals. "The art of caretaking--of her home and her garden--nourished O'Keeffe's art-making," Robinson writes. Hooper's illustrations range from the realistic to the impressionistic; one vignette shows an elaborately layered bouquet of blooms emerging from O'Keeffe's head, while another illuminates a long outdoor table laden with home-cooked foods. It's an uncomplicated portrait that highlights how the intersection of environment and creative freedom formed an artist for whom "everything was art, and art was everything." An afterword includes the subject's recipe for pecan butterballs. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)
Horn Book Review
Spare, poetic text and illustrations rich in color and detail provide a unique insight into a well-known artist. Beginning in well-trodden territory with descriptions of O'Keeffe's (1887-1986) flower paintings, Robinson quickly directs the story to the artist's later life and the ways that not only the natural landscape of New Mexico but also the nourishing acts of tending a garden and feeding friends inspired her art. The text is lean but full of evocative details. Hooper's illustrations focus on the things O'Keeffe loved -- landscapes and natural materials take precedence over people, who are often sketched in black and white over the riot of color of a table of food or a garden full of flowers. One memorable page-turn first shows a young Georgia surrounded by the kinds of small natural objects that intrigued her; on the following spread, many of the same objects are shown much larger and more painterly, leaping out of an older O'Keeffe's head. Back matter includes brief biographical information, more details about some of her sustainable gardening techniques, a list of sources, and O'Keeffe's recipe for pecan butterball cookies. Laura KoenigMarch/April 2024 p.115 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Picture-book biographies about this important American artist abound; this one takes a path less traveled. The book opens with Georgia O'Keeffe's famed flower paintings but quickly shifts focus. After fleeing busy New York for "the wide skies" of New Mexico, the artist bought a home in Abiquiú in 1945. In addition to painting, she grew a garden, cooked, and baked. Readers will learn what she planted, how she relied on organic means to keep destructive insects at bay, and how her gardening and painting were deeply intertwined. When showcasing O'Keeffe's art, Robinson employs quotes (undocumented, but a bibliography is provided). Hooper incorporates her subject's style and content in key scenes: city skyscrapers against a darkened sky; puffy, isolated clouds foregrounding the garden. While O'Keeffe's relationship to Alfred Stieglitz is not mentioned, the title does connect her childhood experiences on a Wisconsin farm to her adult pursuits. Shifting perspectives and dynamic design accompany interesting details, beautifully described. In one scene, a pea vine crosses the gutter diagonally, while small, sequential insets in mustard and black show O'Keeffe painting, sewing, and collecting bones as her garden grows. Following the harvest, a bountiful table with home-grown goodness and delectable desserts is paired with a recipe card for pecan butterballs. Who knew? A veritable feast for the eyes and the mind. (photograph, biographical note, information on sustainable gardening, pecan butterballs recipe) (Informational picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This gentle, beautiful work can inspire many conversations and complement numerous classroom studies, describing as it does the life of Georgia O'Keeffe as an artist, gardener, chef for her friends, and conservationist. "To Georgia, everything was art, and art was everything," and readers will learn how her life embodied those maxims in everything she did. The text appears in short bursts alongside Hooper's vivid paintings of scenes from O'Keeffe's life and of her oversize flowers. The flowers first appear as part of O'Keeffe's artworks, but then, after Robinson relates how the artist fled the confines of New York City for the open, colorful landscape of New Mexico, they also appear in the garden that she lovingly tended and that was such an inspiration. O'Keeffe employed sustainable gardening techniques, such as companion planting instead of pesticides, and these and other conservation ideas are discussed in the afterword. O'Keeffe's recipe for pecan butterballs and a list of online and print sources for the book also appear in the back matter. This will be a great companion read to Patrick McDonnell's Me . . . Jane (2011) for readers who want to learn about women who blazed their own trail and is a must for public library and classroom shelves.
