Ezra Jack Keats (1970/1992)

Aaron Limbaugh

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Transcript

00:00The Snowy Day was the first book that was really my own.

00:18In the process of doing it, my style changed,

00:21and the focus of my work changed to those things I cared most about.

00:30All that had happened to me as a child, both good and bad, became meaningful.

00:35In 1963, Ezra Keats won the Caldecott Medal for The Snowy Day,

00:41which introduced Peter, whose feelings were much like Keats' own as he grew up in Brooklyn.

00:46Peter now appears in many more books.

00:49Sometimes books are inspired by a special remembered image.

00:53I could use all this experience in my books.

00:55Discovering Snow

00:57Loving Colors

01:02Learning to Whistle

01:07Loneliness

01:12Running away from home

01:16Growing up

01:20And discovering that they were girls

01:26When I was five, my mother would awaken me at dawn

01:39so I could see the sunrise

01:41It came up over these rooftops

01:46which I painted when I was older

01:48This one is a painting of my parents I did when I was 17

02:00Those were tough times

02:02I used house paints and everything I could lay my hands on

02:05My mother encouraged me to paint

02:08While my father was worried that I would starve as an artist

02:11But he managed to get me paint anyway

02:14When I asked him to pose for this

02:17He wanted to wear a shirt and tie

02:19But I painted it as it was

02:21This is a night scene of the candy store across the street

02:31It's the kind of lonely street corner

02:38Peter might have walked through

02:40Where does Peter come from?

02:47Long before I ever thought of doing children's books

02:49I found these photos in a magazine

02:52The boy's expressive face

02:55His clothes

02:56His gestures captivated me

02:59For years he was on my studio walls

03:05I was stuck away in a drawer

03:07When the book was finally finished

03:09I inquired at the magazine

03:11How long ago these pictures had been printed

03:13To my astonishment

03:15I discovered that I had known this little boy for 22 years

03:19A class of children drew their own pictures

03:21Of Peter's dog, Willie

03:23And they all looked at the same dog

03:30Look at this one

03:37Here is some of the collage material

03:43I used in my work

03:44This paper was used to make pajamas for Peter to wear

03:50In the snowy day

03:52This became sidewalk in Whistle for Willie

04:01And a pretty pattern like this

04:12Was used to make a dress for a girl

04:14In Whistle for Willie

04:15Since this paper looks like wood

04:22It became a fence

04:24In a letter to Amy

04:25I get ideas for my books

04:32While walking along the street

04:33I'm doing research

04:36For lunch

04:51New York City is never finished

04:53They're tearing this building down

04:56I think about the people who lived here

04:59Scenes like these find their way into my books

05:08Every artist puts the world he knows

05:12Into his work

05:13The world I have known

05:14I share with you in my books

05:23Ezra Jack Keats

05:26Put the sights and sounds of the city

05:28Its shapes and colors

05:30Into many of his books

05:31Saying to myself

05:33Who looked at their faces

05:35For a moment

05:36The beauty of the ei digestion

05:37The beauty of mydd

05:37Freel during the country

05:39To fight the layers

05:52And the hair

05:53Ever

05:53When you're dancing

05:54And you're doing

05:56A new life

05:59Tryleri

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