Premier illustrator to be in residence

In the years before television — was there ever such a time? — Peter Sís devoured every single detail in each picture he saw.

“The pictures were the story within the story, and that’s what I’m always trying to do: present an overall story and another, maybe even better story in details,” he says now.

Today, Sís is the internationally acclaimed author/illustrator of “Madlenka,” “Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei,” “Tibet: Through the Red Box” and many more books for young people. He will be in residence this summer at UW–Madison.

Under the auspices of the Arts Institute, Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Elvehjem Museum of Art, Sís will begin his residency with a free public lecture, “Map of My World” Wednesday, June 27, at 4:30 p.m. in L160 Elvehjem. In addition, CCBC staff will lead two discussions about his books. Sís also will teach a four-week course on illustration through the Department of Art.

Tino Balio, executive director of the Arts Institute, thinks the book illustration class will offer students an unusual option for summer study.

“I’ve heard from the art department that courses in book illustration are quite rare — this class really will fill an important need,” he says.

Sís’ students undoubtedly will come to realize what a special place maps and landscapes hold in his work.

“Place is so important to me because I left one (Czechoslovakia) to be in another (the United States,” he says. “I was not allowed to go back to Czechoslovakia; if I had been born in the U.S. I probably wouldn’t think in terms of ‘place’ too much. I call my father in Prague — my original place — almost every day, while I meet lots of people in New York” — where he’s now based — “who haven’t called home in, say, Kansas in years.”

Sís found his art early. “I drew all the time, on every available surface: light switches, chairs,” he says. Ever the interdisciplinarian, he hosted a rock music radio program and helped found a political magazine while attending the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague. He also had his first solo visual art exhibition. Then as now, he favored oil pastels or pen-and-ink drawings washed in watercolor.

After relocating to Los Angeles in 1982, Sís created the posters for countryman Milos Forman’s film “Amadeus.” He also produced illustrations for The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Newsweek and many more. He moved to New York in 1984.

CCBC director Ginny Moore Kruse says Sís’ sheer versatility — he’s a filmmaker, animator and muralist as well as author and illustrator — will offer a direct demonstration of the excitement of interdisciplinary work.

“Peter’s experience with film animation gives the words and images in his books the ability to engage readers on several different levels. He’s able to ‘translate’ what he knows about animation onto a two-dimensional printed page,” she says. “I think he’s one of the most imaginative, innovative artists being published today.” To “illustrate” those points, the Elvehjem Museum of Art will present a special summer-long exhibition of Sís’ drawings, “Small Worlds: Illustrations by Peter Sís,” June 27-Sept. 2.

For more information about the summer residency, contact Ken Chraca, (608) 263-4086, kjchraca@facstaff.wisc.edu. The book discussions, on Wednesday, June 27, at 1 p.m. and Wednesday, July 11, at 3 p.m., are free but seating is limited to 15. To register, contact the CCBC at (608) 263-3720 by Friday, June 22.