Do you have a child who loves to create? This is the book for them. Do you know someone who is reluctant to create because they don't think they are good at something? This is the book for them. Pine Marten watches a human through her window and sees her creating all sorts of things using a lot of different mediums. She does pottery, plays a guitar, sews and paints. When chick-a-dee explains that she is doing art, the animals all try their hands at it outside. I love how this book shows that art can be done inside and outside, can all kinds or mediums, can have a message, or mean nothing at all. Art is in the eye of the beholder and makes you think and feel different things. What a great story for a parent or teacher to read to children to encourage and inspire them to create whatever and however they want. Some might dance, sing, play an instrument, sew, build, use clay, paint crayons etc. My granddaughter (4 yrs.) and I went for a walk and collected items from nature, then we glued, painted, tied and poked them together. We took her creation back out into the bush and tied it to a tree for others to see. Such fun and inspired by this little book. This would also be a great book to use with primary students for an art lesson to teach some concepts and vocabulary. The illustrations are beautiful and peaceful. They give a calming sense to the story. and creative a peaceful feeling to the book.

This is a wonderful picture book about art and the many different ways you can make it and interpret it. Beautifully illustrated, this is a great resource to get the conversation going with young readers (and artists!) about being creative!

Join Pine Marten in exploring the meaning of art in Madeline Kloepper’s Outside Art.

One day when Pine Marten sees Human putting colours on a board with a fuzzy brush, she is curious and wants to know what Human is doing. This question begins a heated debate amongst the other woodland creatures about the meaning of art. All of the animals have their own ideas about what art means and they realize in the end that art doesn’t have one meaning but many different ones.

Outside Art will inspire your readers to make art of their own. Whether they make picture art, musical art, map art, or art with no meaning at all, this story will provide all of the inspiration they need to create. I especially love that the art in the book takes place indoors AND outdoors. You can use the story to get your readers outside to create found object art, especially now in the winter when the snow can act as a giant canvas for their creations.

The illustrations are adorable and inviting. Madeline Kloepper uses an all natural colour palette to evoke the sense of the outdoors. It’s a definite treasure book for all of your budding artists.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It will be released January 5, 2021, by Penguin Random House Canada.
In a cabin in the woods an Artist is painting a picture. Pine Marten, who loves watching Human, looks through the window and wonders what it is up to today. She sees that it is “putting colors on a board using a furry stick” and wonders why.

Chickadee comes along explaining, it is The Artist busy Making Art. Pine Marten then asks, What is Art Chickadee interprets it according to her perspective of the world.

Other animals, Hare, Moose, Mouse, Deer, and Coyote, show up and add their interpretations. Then Grouse arrives announcing, “THERE IS NO MEANING!”

Cat, who lives on the other side of the window, gives a complicated explanation of art. It made me laugh out loud. Given this academic description in the context of this picture book, none of the animals understand it. My suspicion is that many children (and adults) won’t either.

It doesn’t stop the animals from creating their own art. In the end, we discover that all their understandings of art are correct. When Human looks out her window at the animals, she in turn, has no idea what they are up to.

I appreciate how gently Kloepper delivers her message that art is a universal act that has many meanings and can be undertaken by everyone in their own unique way.

I am a fan of Madeline Kloepper’s gouache and pencil illustrations. Her stylized work is full of humour and sweetness. Her images of nature and her cosiness of indoors makes me long for my own home in the woods where I can make my own kinds of art. Even the forest endpapers make me happy.

Deep in the woods there is a little cabin where a woman makes art. But what is art? The animals see her play music, paint, sew, but what purpose does it serve. I don’t think this book answers the question it puts out very well. However the story isn’t bad and does follow a train of child-like thoughts. The illustrations are interesting and fit the story nicely.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Animals trying to explain what art is and what it means.

This book is a great way to introduce to kids both art appreciation and how to develop art from the natural work around us. I love how the animals each provided their outlook towards what the artist was creating, showing that there is room for multiple thoughts and opinions, yet were also able to work together and contribute something that they each felt was art from their own perspectives and abilities.

Review will post on blog Oct 18th/2020.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an electronic copy to read and review.

"What is art?" This question is posed by a bunch of woodland animals who are watching a human paint in her log cabin. The animals have a discussion on what she is doing and what they purpose for her Art is. It is a cute story with some fantastic illustrations. I will be using this in my classroom to open a discussion on what we can use Art for and how we can share our message through Art.

I requested and received this book from Madeline Kloepper and Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a cute story explaining what art can be and the many ways it can be expressed. I love the animal’s debate about art as they watch the human complete a painting.

What is art? A group of animals watch as a person is at work creating art, and wonder what it is, why are they doing this, what does it mean, and can they make art too?

This book was ok. I wasn’t blown away by any part of it but not disappointed either. It was fine. I like the idea of it a lot and think it is a clever and interesting way to explain art to children. I enjoyed how the animals created art themselves. The illustrations were interesting, not a style I connected with, but I appreciate them.

This would be a good book for school age students to understand the meaning of art, recognize art in nature, and to inspire their own creativity. Unless a child is very interested in something about this book I don’t think it’s one I would be rereading often - not a bad thing necessarily, just not what I look for.