Maira Kalman
I’m keeping things short and sweet today. All you have to do is follow the link below to read an article published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. Written by Maira Kalman, it’s hard to categorize – not an article, actually, just brief notes for each day of one week of her life. I’ve said many times here (or, if not here, then many other places – to friends, family, students, neighbors, maybe even complete strangers on the street) that I adore the way this woman’s mind works. I love the fact that she’s both heartbroken by and grateful to the world she lives in. That she sees/is stopped in her tracks by small details and their larger implications. That she has a Proust Reading Group. That she is – as she proclaims about the people she sees on the streets of NYC – still alive, thank goodness.
Click here to read her notes: http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-week-in-the-life-of-maira-kalman-1446130901 And if you don’t know her work for children (What Pete Ate, Ooh-la-la) and adults (Principles of Uncertainty, And the Pursuit of Happiness) then find out more about them on her web page at http://www.mairakalman.com/. While you’re there, don’t miss the piece she wrote and illustrated called “On Beauty” (you can find it under the Journalism tab) from which comes this wonderful page:
from “On Beauty.”
Bonny Becker
Julie Paschkis
Julie Larios
laurakvasnosky
Margaret Chodos-Irvine
Books Around The Table 
Maira just “gets it”, doesn’t she? The bliss of simple pleasures, the joy of creating instead of frantically consuming…there is a great richness in needing a lot less. As Da Vinci so wisely said – “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
So right, Deirdre – she understands the choice: Do we celebrate life, as complicated as it is, or do we shun it? She comes down on the side of celebration, but she’s never too sugary about it.
One of my favorite observers. Thanks, Julie!
I’m with you, Bonny – anytime Kalman has something to say, I’ll listen.
Deirdre has it, simple while sophisticated and a delight at every turn. An opportunity to hear her in conversation with Steve Sher at U-Book Store on Nov 16, Monday, at 7pm. I want to ask about the onion ring collection on her wall.
Hooray! I’ll be there!