Borderless Arts Tennessee has its first children’s book. You can purchase a copy for $15.
Earlier in my life, I was a children’s librarian and I spent a lot of time making up my own stories to tell the children. However, these stories lived in my head and never made it to paper. Last year, after Borderless Arts did the Water Warriors project, I began to think that it might be an interesting idea to finally put one of the stories to paper as the story fit the focus of the Water Warriors program. The idea was to see if some of the Teapot Diplomats might want to draw pictures to illustrate the story. We could then sell the books to support the Water Warrior project (after we covered the expense of printing). In this process, the participants would learn a skill of book illustration and assist in helping to support a project that I knew all of them loved.
One Teapot Diplomat expressed interest. Hope McKee stated a desire to illustrate the entire book. However, the idea she proposed was far more ambitious than anything I could have imagined. Hope had the idea of using a different art technique to create a unique piece of art for each page. She would later photograph the art to become the illustrate. Each art technique would be a technique that she has learned through the Teapot Diplomat program.
The result has been amazing. Not only is the art wonderful, but the art is a story in itself. A story of Hope’s growth as an artist. A story of the impact of the Teapot Diplomat program.
We were not able to see these during the Water Warriors as planned, but we still have the same plan to cover costs of printing and then use the funds to support that program in the future. We made 50 books and 30 are already sold….we can always make more!
If you could like a copy, let me know.
The Teapot Diplomat program is supported by Mark and Niki Antonini.
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