Visit Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Artist Eric Carle’s most popular character, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, is a familiar figure to more than 150 million kids who followed the bright green caterpillar’s adventures in more than 50 languages. At the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, they can see how the artist created the engaging images.

The museum doesn’t just exhibit the art of Carle and other famous illustrators, but takes children and adults inside his world, showing the secrets of how he conceived and created his colorful characters. The wide-screen film Picture Writer, shown in the museum’s theater, follows Carle in his studio as he sketches a character and chooses the bright colors of tissue paper that will fill in the sketch.

Most of Carle’s characters are insects or small animals — crickets, chameleons, fireflies — and in the film he tells how his childhood walks with his father through the woods inspired his interest in nature and the small creatures that live in it. As he shows his “palette” — trays of tissue paper he has painted in more bright colors and cut and trimmed into shapes to complete his pictures — it’s clear Carle is having fun.

The museum doesn’t stop there: Each child gets a bag of art supplies and materials — paper and paints, and an assortment of objects they can use to make prints and their own collages. Children are invited to spend time in the bright studio, filled with more supplies and inspiration. Immersed in all this creative atmosphere, surrounded by works of other children and with the materials to create their own, children can let their imaginations soar. Plenty of help is on hand to encourage, demonstrate techniques and provide materials.

Projects created by other children are all around — a row of fanciful sea creatures created from found materials, an entire wall of collages and prints. The goal of this portion of the museum is to show children how they can use everyday objects — a twig, a sponge or a leaf — to make colorful prints and collages. By showing them the possibilities in their everyday surroundings, the hope is children will be inspired to continue their art at home.

There is a lot more to the museum, including exhibits showing how Carle created other popular characters and works of other artists that inspired him.  An entire gallery is devoted to the museum’s collection of works by some of the best-known children’s illustrators, with originals of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit and characters created by Maurice Sendak. Illustrated books are everywhere, as are places to read them, including a reading nook shaped like a giant Hungry Caterpillar.