art as work: students learn
about the bigger-career picture
by jennifer hetrick
among the slew of varying artists boyertown junior high west art teacher stephanie stamm reels into her classroom for students to meet throughout an academic year, one whose work particularly piqued teenage curiosity this past march is children’s author, illustrator, and calligrapher carol haile of wyomissing.
having published a handful of her own books by now, haile is also a graduate of boyertown area high school, which made her visit to junior high students all the more special during her later winter guest appearance.
she has four published books, two of which she illustrated herself, the princess tree (2005) and elephant overboard ! (2007), and a fifth is in the making as an alphabet book starring berk county's own moo-happy cow supply.
looking back at the evolution of her writing, haile gleaned that she didn’t necessarily expect to one day be penning children’s books, handling their artwork too.
"i wrote prolifically while i was a student in boyertown and enjoyed seeing my byline in newspapers and magazines," haile said. "i never thought of writing a book particularly."
"books were mysterious things to me," hail said, "and i was having enough difficulty getting my work published as it was."
"i had accumulated enough rejection slips to wallpaper a gymnasium," haile joked in earnest.
after collaborating on a book with freiman stoltzfus who left the country for a time to be in venice, haile felt anxious to attempt another. her editor sam keiser encouraged her to further pursue a story she had started about two pandas who take a trip on an infamous ark. eventually, a dream vacation came to life on the book market in all of its 32 pages, with illustrations handled by robert miller.
the princess tree takes place in olde ireland. haile had trouble finding an illustrator for it who would know the literal depiction of the story as well as she knew it inside, and so she finally decided to pursue the illustrations on her own.
"i approached the artwork as a calligrapher and quickly discovered that an illustrator had been lurking within me all along," haile explained.
"she was so joyful and positive, and so complementary of the boyertown area school district," stamm said about haile. "she stressed how lucky the students were to go here."
( all photographs are a kind courtesy of stephanie stamm )
while talking about her books, haile gave students an introspective look at her publishing process, ideas, illustrating endeavors and even a thoroughly detailed history of writing and calligraphy, stamm said.
"i tremendously enjoy visiting schools and sharing my work with students," haile said, reflecting on her visit. "i tell them to study hard and move forward armed with lots of knowledge—and then, when the opportunities present themselves, grab them."
visit carol's website at www.caroljhaile.com.
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