TITLES

Selected Books and Awards

• The Lady and the Spider by Faith McNulty (HarperCollins, 1986), a Reading Rainbow Book; winner of the Parents Choice Award for Illustration; selected as one of "1001 best books of the 20th century" in the NY Times Parents Guide to the Best Books for Children (1st Ed.)
  
  
• An Extraordinary Life: the Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle (Orchard Books, 1997), winner of the NCTE's 1998 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children (Bob is the first artist to share the award with an author); an ALA Notable Book; an IRA Teacher's Choice; selected as one of "1001 best books of the 20th century" in the NY Times Parents Guide to the Best Books for Children (3rd Ed.)
  
  
• A Dragon in the Sky: the Story of a Green Darner Dragonfly, by Laurence Pringle (Orchard Books, 2001), a Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children, 2001 selection and a Junior Library Guild Bookclub selection.
  
  
• Crows: Strange and Wonderful, by Laurence Pringle (Boyd's Mill Press, 2002), selected for the 2002 John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers.
  
  
• In 2002, Bob was a recipient of a National Science Foundation Artists and Writers Program Grant to research Weddell seals in Antarctica for a nonfiction picture book. He subsequently spent five weeks in the austral spring of that year photographing and recording seals and seal scientists on the frozen McMurdo Sound, 750 miles from the South Pole. Unsurprisingly, he is currently working on a nonfiction book for children about seal researchers in Antarctica.

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

In September, 2004 Bob was the keynote speaker and led workshops at each of three one-week seminars (in Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Atlanta) for all American School (DoDEA) art instructors in Europe, the Pacific and the southeastern United States. Other keynotes include: the Mazza Museum Summer Institute 2003 in Findlay, Ohio, and a Montana State University (Bozeman) conference, "Integrating Art and Science", in 2000.

LARGE-GROUP PRESENTATIONS

Bob has been a presenter at conventions of the National Council of Teachers of English, the American Library Association, the International Reading Association and the National Science Teachers Association.

ONLINE

Bob currently co-teaches (with entomologist and Smithsonian consultant Faith Deering) an online, graduate science course in entomology for Montana State University's National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN), with a national "target audience" of inservice elementary school teachers. Participants are sent live insects to use as models for learning — through drawing, reading and writing — about entomology, the scientific method and the key skills of organized observation.

GRADES

K-12

PROGRAMS

Bob combined his passion for painting, a deep interest in nature and years of experience as a K-12 classroom art teacher to create a multi-disciplinary, inquiry-based program that emphasizes observation as the foundation of SCIENCE and ART and teaches the key skills of organized observation as a gateway to both. The program follows National Science and National Art Standards, and is tailored to the given audience.

Acquiring observation skills has strong implications for cross-curricular integration in writing, reading and other subject areas.

SLIDE TALK

In a lively presentation, Bob uses many examples from his books to investigate and illuminate organized observation, which forms the basis of ALL structured scientific investigations, and includes a peek into how the eye and the brain work together to make sense of what we see. Also included, time-permitting: a brief overview of Bob's process of creating nonfiction art, from ideas to sketches to final art — including his use of a computer for several important steps.

Length: 45-60 minutes, including Q&A (up to four per day).

Audience Size: Limited only by the size of the room or auditorium (must be able to be sufficiently darkened).

OBSERVATION SKILLS WORKSHOP

The National Science Standards and many curriculum guides place observation at the top of their list of essential skills for students, and most scientists and artists rely on some form of organized observation in every aspect of their work — yet most science texts and manuals simply ask students to "observe and record your observations" and seldom offer clear definitions and guidelines.

John Burroughs (1837-1921) defined observation as the power "to see no more and no less than is actually before you", and that definition is at the core of all of Bob's programs. His engaging, hands-on workshop — designed for 10-25 participants, 3rd grade & up — focuses on organized observation, which is a more structured, scientific path to the same goal (accuracy), with a set of key skills that can be identified and taught.

Workshop participants are guided through a series of "mindful" observation/drawing exercises using classroom-friendly LIVE INSECTS (alternatively: large, high-quality plastic insects) as models, with accuracy as the only criteria for assessment of the drawings. Participants will learn: what "observing carefully" really means; that they can communicate their observations through drawing and writing; that the scientific method and the artistic process are both driven by observations, questions, ideas and theories. Incidentally, they'll also receive a pretty good basic introduction to insect anatomy.

Bob will leave materials and resource materials for teachers that include complete lesson plans for elementary AND high school levels. These plans are tied to the National Science AND National Art Standards, and offer the possibility of working with live insects for extended periods during the school year.

Length: One-and-a-half to two-and-a-half hours per session (up to two sessions per day, plus one slide talk)

Audience Size: 5-25 students per two-hour session.

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

ANTARCTICA SLIDE SHOW

In November and December of 2002, Bob spent five weeks in Antarctica researching Weddell seals (see "Selected Books and Awards", above). Culling through almost 3000 images taken during the trip, he has created a dynamic slide show that focuses on several groups of seal scientists as they go about their daily research with both adult and newly-born seals (hunting and foraging behavior, population demographics, nutritional and oxygen requirements of deep diving, etc).

Additionally, he shows what it's like to live and work in a canvas-and-wood temporary hut that sits on top of six feet of constantly-shifting ice which floats on a thousand feet of water — all within a few miles of Mt. Erebus - the world's southernmost active volcano — where clouds of steam and smoke billow constantly from the snowcapped summit.

As part of his research, Bob also lived in a dormitory-on-stilts, in a "fish shack" on wooden runners in the middle of a seal colony, and in a tent (at -10 F) next to a permanently-frozen freshwater lake at the foot of a glacier. He helicoptered over and around giant icebergs and glaciers to reach the Mars-like Dry Valleys, drove a snowmobile across many miles of open sea-ice to find and "tag" seals, visited Shackleton's Hut and toured a large penguin colony.

Bob's images and commentary will bring alive for children and teachers the adventure of science as it is currently practiced by teams of dedicated men and women in one of the most remote, pristine, harsh and beautiful environments on earth. The program will enhance and support any ongoing classroom unit on Antarctica or a related theme such as marine mammal research.

This 50-120-minute program (including Q&A) is aimed at Grade 4 to adult. For younger children, a 30-40 minute version with an emphasis on penguins and baby seals is available.

A WORD FROM BOB MARSTALL

"I am a landscape painter and an illustrator of nonfiction children's books. Since childhood I've had an insatiable curiosity about the natural world (particularly birds and insects) and my place in it. I still love to turn over rocks and logs to see what might be there.

"As an artist, I tend to take a more intimate approach to what we normally think of as landscapes: I often find that a very small part of a landscape can be more interesting than a grand view of mountains and valleys (they've all been done so much!). But, micro or macro, my main concerns are still space, form, light and color, and the subject matter is just as real either way - only the scale differs.

"Whenever possible, I bring these concerns into the paintings I create for nonfiction children's books and into the programs I conduct for children and adults."

FEES

$950 for a full day of up to 4 sessions, plus expenses.

Fee reduced for each additional day per trip. Cost of transportation is waived for visits within one hundred miles of Bob's western Massachusetts home. Charges for expenses on more distant and longer visits can be estimated and negotiated in advance.

SET-UP AND EQUIPMENT REQUESTS

1. A room that can be completely darkened for slide shows — the darker, the better.
2. A large screen, the larger the better (particularly for larger groups).
3. A digital projector and a laptop, if possible (this is not a requirement — I have both, but prefer to travel without them when I can).
4. A microphone hook-up for larger groups, if possible (not a requirement).

AUTOGRAPHING INFORMATION

Bob is always amazed and honored to be asked for his autograph and will happily inscribe almost anything that is put in front of him.

He also provides an up-to-date list of contact people and numbers at publishers, from which schools can order his books (at substantial discounts) for autographing.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BOB MARSTALL

• Biography
• Testimonials
• References

CONTACT INFORMATION

Bob Marstall
221 Pine St., Studio 228
Florence, MA 01062
Telephone: 413-586-2822
Second Telephone: 413-626-0979
bob@marstallstudio.com
www.marstallstudio.com