The first Funday Sunday of the 2018-2019 season, sponsored by Fifth third Bank and built around the Homecoming 2018 theme “Where Your Story Began,” was met with lots of excitement!   With 18 stations to choose from, more than 300 children and their parents were able to learn about Education, Science and Occupational Therapy at UF, as well as visit international stations, and those based on the Newhard Planetarium on campus. Marathon Center for Performing Arts, Marathon Petroleum Co., YWCA American sign Language, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) and STEM stations were all represented. A presentation was given...

When an artist is asked how an idea came about, the answer usually reveals depth and planning. These ideas often come about over years of weighty ponderance and intense suffering for the cause. So, when Greg Manchess, the author and illustrator of the young adult novel “Above the Timberline,” was at the University of Findlay recently and was asked the question regarding how he came up with the idea for the novel, his answer was a little unorthodox. “I literally had to start making stuff up,” Manchess said. “People were asking, ‘What’s the story?’ and I really didn’t know.” He...

Two new art exhibits, Wordless Picture Books and American Tall Tales, are up in the Wilson Gallery! Wordless Picture Books feature picture book art by Mike Wohnoutka, Chris Raschka, Craig Brown, Arthur Geisert, Bill Thomson and Molly Idle. American Tall Tales shows books that are about individuals like Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. Artwork by Steven Kellogg, Michael McCurdy, Edward McCandlish, Don Vanderbeek, Blair Lent, Lynne Rowe Reed, Will Eisener, Bert Dodson and John Steven Gurney can be found in that gallery.

On March 19th, 20 students from the MFA program at University of Hartford visited the Mazza museum. The group was led by illustrator C.F. Payne, the director of the program, and two other faculty members, Bill Thomson and Doug Anderson. Thomson spoke at Mazza’s Weekend Conference in 2017 and we have nine pieces of his art in the Mazza collection! Along with the students, Payne also brought two works of art to donate. The pieces are from Micawber, written by Jon Lithgow, and illustrated by Payne. The students took part in a tour of the museum and vault and then special guest, Christopher Canyon,...

The idea of learning from the work of artists is one idea that drew Tom Lichtenheld to donate his life’s work to Mazza. Lichtenheld, a children’s book author and illustrator of titles like the New York Times bestsellers “Duck! Rabbit!” and “I Wish You More,” was recently on campus to donate nearly all of the artwork from 21 of his books to the museum. He said that donating is an honor because it gives his work a “third life,” in that it allows for it to be available to other people for an indefinite period. “The first life is when...

On February 19 2018, the Findlay branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) hosted their annual Mini Math and Science Day program at the Mazza Museum. Author, illustrator and paper engineer Jeff Ebbeler discussed his artistic journey and his work with various types of illustration, including paper engineering. The young women in attendance learned about the creative processes behind pop-up book construction, and had the opportunity to create a pop-up book of their own and take a tour of the Laiho Gallery given by Suzanne Thompson, a docent at Mazza. While discussing his journey, Ebbeler encouraged those in...

The Caldecott Medal, named after Randolph Caldecott, is the highest award in the picture book industry. Each year, the selection committee chooses one book from those published in the previous year as the Caldecott Medal winner. Depending on the number of potential, quality books, one or more Caldecott Honor books may be chosen as runners up. For our December Docent Enrichment, thirty-five Mazza Docents and volunteers participated in our Mazza Caldecott Read-In: an annual event where we take part in a mock Caldecott Award selection. Facilitators were Dr. Melissa Cain, UF professor in College of Ed and Children’s Literature specialist...

On Dec. 12, 2017 the Laiho Gallery of the Mazza Museum, dedicated to art from paper engineered books, introduced its most recent rotation of eye-popping art. The new exhibit showcases a variety of examples of the paper engineered genre and offers visitors the opportunity to glimpse the process of some of their favorite illustrators.  Paper engineering, used in and synonymous with moveable or pop-up books, relates to origami and employs folded paper to illustrate a story, allowing for the designs to be “animated,” and come to life in front of the reader.   Alongside old favorites, such as Lothar Meggendorfer’s...