My Cup of Art

Age range 9+

This little pop-up book by artist Katerina Karolik is about a seemingly ordinary object - the tea or coffee cup. Seen through an artist's eyes, however, everyday items can take on new and unexpected forms.

If you are curious about what a cup by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Piet Mondrian or Kazimir Malevich might look like, read on! You are sure to enjoy this playful and imaginative book about an item found on every kitchen table that still has the power to surprise.

Gr 1-3 Using the loosest of phrases, "inspired by," Karolik recreates such pieces as van Gogh's The Starry Night, Kandinsky's Composition VIII, Mondrian's Composition II with Red, Blue and Yellow, and Hopper's Nighthawks with the inclusion of cups or mugs to show how looking at the world with an artist's eye can inform everything. She puts a bright yellow mug of steaming liquid against the familiar starry sky in van Gogh's field of blue with a just-as-vivid sunflower. The handle gives way to reveal beneath a flap the artist's ear. Egon Schiele's extraordinary gaze at viewers is concealed in the mug that replaces his head but flips up to reveal it. Next to each creation are facts about the featured artist, the choices Karolik has made, and prompts—often with answers—as to what has inspired the painting. It's a challenging book, a riveting set of decisions and worthy of re-readings. With its flaps and lift-ups, it's not ideal for institutional use, but worth the risk. The conversations students might have about that ear-handle alone are worth the cost of replacement copies. VERDICT A thoughtful work of art about works of art, and about the artists behind the work. School Library Journal

This Czech import uses a coffee cup as a way to interpret the art of nine modern artists. Karolik introduces the book with short paragraphs explaining that "Great artists painted ordinary things..." She takes a well-known artwork from each artist and re-imagines it with a cup as the centrepiece. Each of nine spreads contains the re-imagined image, along with a description of the artist's painting style and several key words that describe their work. And each spread has a pop-up component. These showcase the artist's personality or trademark style. The Egon Schiele spread explains the importance of line and emotion, and the flap under the cup lifts up to reveal an emotional face as shown in a self-portrait from 1912. The last spread invites the reader to add their own cup drawing in a framed insert. Although not specifically labelled as a book on modern art, the work examines artists from several modernist movements, from impressionism's Vincent van Gogh to pop art's Yayoi Kusama. I like that readers get an overview of their philosophy through words and an image. The book is a playful exercise in style for older readers who won't confuse the images with artwork from the profiled artists. Youth Services Book Review