Fig. 1 Dennis Nolan (b. 1945), Dove Isabeau, 1997, watercolor, rmichelson.com.
Do what you love
Faculty Reaction Illustration in Context Genres Summer 2012
Rohan Wayne Patrick
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His father was an operatic tenor. His early childhood memories of backstage, makeup, costume and performances helped to create a lifelong interest in dramatic and colorful storytelling. Dennis Nolan (b. 1945) is an American illustrator and art Historian (Fig. 2). Professor Nolan lives in western Massachusetts with his wife (Fig. 3), illustrator and author Lauren Mills (b.1950), daughter, and their two dogs. Ms. Mills received a B.A. in drawing and painting at the University of California, Santa
Fig. 2 James Gurney (b. 1958), No Fear, No Envy, No Meanness (portrait of Dennis Nolan), 2008, watercolor.
Barbara, and an MA in book illustration at San Jose State University. Her artwork has been exhibited at Radcliffe College, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and galleries and museums throughout the country. Professor Nolan, currently teaches at the Hartford Art School in West Hartford, CT in both the undergraduate program and the Low Residency Masters of Fine Art in Illustration program which is overseen by illustrator and director Murray Tinkelman (b.1933). Professor Nolan teaches courses in drawing, perspective, anatomy, watercolor, and book illustration on all undergraduate levels, and Fig. 3 Lauren Mills (b.1950), Artist Dennis Nolan, 2006, bust sculpture.
introduces the thesis project to the first year students in the MFA program. After attending Bay Area schools, he earned a
BA degree in art history and an MA degree in painting from San Jose State University. A variety of jobs followed, including painting for galleries, illustrating biology textbooks, and working in animating films. He taught illustration at San Jose State University before moving to New England. Several of the books that he has written and illustrated have been
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singled out for recognition. Among them are The Castle Builder, (Fig. 4) winner of the Prix de Zephir in France; and Dinosaur Dream, (Fig. 5) a season’s choice in both Newsweek and New Yorker, and an SCBWI Golden Kite Honor Book. He has illustrated T. H. White’s classic The Sword in the Stone, and two of Fig. 4 Dennis Nolan, The Castle Builder, 1993, pen and ink, book cover.
Bruce Coville’s retellings of Shakespeare’s plays, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and
Romeo and Juliet, along with numerous other books, including titles by Jane Yolen, Ann Turner, Diane Stanley, and William Hooks. He collaborated with author and illustrator Lauren Mills on the illustrations for her story Fairy Wings, (Fig. 6), winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, and returned to the primeval past in Shadow of the Dinosaurs, which he wrote and illustrated. Among recent publications are an illustrated biography, St. Francis of Assisi, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The Skywriter, by Dennis Haseley, and his own wordless picture book, Sea of Dreams. Fig. 5 Dennis Nolan, Dinosaur Dream, 1994, watercolor, picture book cover.
Professor Nolan seems to have crossed into the area of the inter-connection of artists. One of his assignments, titled the "Dream Assignment," presents an opportunity to abandon topics and methods chosen for career advancement in favor of subjects that are personally meaningful. This is the essence of Professor Nolan’s presentation which was more about the inter-connection of artists rather than a portfolio of his work. Professor Nolan took us through the earliest illustration and
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how it has grown from primitive conditions to the current period. Throughout his presentation the undertone emphasis was on the fundamental skill of drawing (I took this lesson straight back to my classroom) focusing on foundational skills. Biographical, autobiographical, musical genre, literature based, film based, theatrical production, operatic production, tragic hero, epic poem, historical event, avocation, myth or fable, lost cause, just cause and original story are all Fig. 6 Dennis Nolan, Fairy Wings, 2001, watercolor, picture book cover.
part of this award winning author and illustrator’s work. My reaction to Professor Nolans’ presentation was
mainly about its flow and identification. Professor Nolan walked us through the European influences, American influences, the Golden Age, the Ashcan School, World War I, the Great Depression and more. Professor Nolan is known for the highly realistic paintings he has created for his own picture books. Although he works primarily in acrylics, Professor Nolan has also worked in watercolor to illustrate. His detailed renderings delve into the fanciful. Professor Nolan works traditionally and electronically or a combination of both methods. Fig. 7 Dennis Nolan, The Gentleman and the Kitchen Maid, 1995, watercolor, picture book cover.
Before his students graduate from the Hartford Art School, Professor Nolan sits each one of them down and gives them his intense wild-man look. “You can forget everything else I taught you,” he tells them. “But I want you to
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remember just two things: how to place the horizon line, and how to draw an ear.� (gurneyjourney.blogspot.com) Professor Nolan spent much of the early 1980s as an art instructor at a California junior college, and during this time he worked on only a few children's books. In 1986, he left teaching and also left the West Coast, moving to a position at a small Connecticut university that allowed him more time for book illustration. Professor Nolan continually received praise for his illustrations. In 1990 Professor Nolan won his first Golden Kite picture-book honor for Dinosaur Dream (Fig. 5). Returning to the world of childhood imagination, he captured in The Castle Builder. Professor Nolan once again brings dreams to life in this story about a modern boy who helps a baby Apatosaurus find its way home. Much of Professor Nolans’ creative work involves illustrating the stories of other authors. In 1994 he provided the illustrations for Diane Stanley's The Gentleman and the Kitchen Maid (Fig. 7), a very unique and well-received fantasy about the love between two figures in separate portraits hanging in a city art museum. A young art student who has come to copy the work of the Dutch masters becomes attuned to the plight of these unrequited lovers and joins the two in a painting of her own making. "Hats off to Nolan for his thorough research and credible renderings of paintings in the style of artists ranging from Rembrandt to Picasso," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer, while Carolyn Phelan, writing in Booklist, called The Gentleman and the Kitchen Maid "an original‌ Nolan's sensitive watercolor illustrations make each portrait in the museum a definite character in the story." School Library Journal contributor Shirley Wilton also commented favorably on Mr. Stanley and Professor Nolan's effort in this work, asserting that, "this lighthearted story is deftly told and handsomely illustrated." Professor Nolan once told SATA: "As an illustrator I approach most of my projects with the visual problems foremost in my mind. The story generally moves along after the pictures have been visualized, at least in my mind if not on paper. Planning the illustrations for the lead-in, the climax, and the ending across a thirty two page format is also a major concern.
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Most of my books are humorous, and I plan them in storyboard form somewhat like an animated film. In this way I can control the timing of the punch lines, surprises, and buildups. I have found that varying my style and technical approach has kept me fresh for each new project." Some of Professor Nolan’s awards and honors include: Outstanding Science Book Award, National Science Teachers Association, 1981, for The Joy of Chickens, and 1987, for Step into the Night; Pick of the List, American Booksellers, Top-Twelve Books designation, Christian Science Monitor, both 1987, Prix de Zephyr (France), 1988, all for The Castle Builder; Parents Choice magazine Top-Fifteen Books designation, and Commonwealth Club of California award, both 1988, both for Step into the Night; Notable Social Studies Books selection, 1988, for Legend of the White Doe; Golden Kite Picture-Book Honor, 1990, for Dinosaur Dream, and 1995, for Fairy Wings.
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Professor Dennis Nolans’ Q & A:
Q Why do you do what you do? A Because, I can’t stop. I have always drawn pictures for the stories that live inside. Q How do you work/your processes? A For my books, I envision pictures, characters, and places, in sequence like a film. I draw this out as rapidly as I can and gradually refine so I can make sense of my scribbles. Then much research is spent gathering reference to make a final painting from. Words, if at all, are last. My stand-alone paintings follow much the same process. Q Where and when were you born? A San Francisco, California, October 19, 1945. Q What was it like where you grew up? A No snow. No freeways. No airport. No television. Two and a half billion people in the world. Lots of woods and creeks to sit for hours catching frogs. Q What are the names and dates you attended grammar, high, colleges, trade or technical schools? A Lincoln Grammar School, Burlingame, Mills High, Millbrae, College of San Mateo, graduated 1963, San Mateo, San Jose State University, graduated 1968, all California, Lyme Academy Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1992. Q What were your parents, and grandparents, full names, dates of birth, places of birth? A Arthur Nolan, 1910, Helen Nolan, father’s parents, Tom and Florence, don’t know their birthdates, mother’s parents, Will and Jeanne Fortier, not sure of grandmother’s birth date, grandfather born 1881. All born in San Francisco. Q What were the occupations of your parents? A Father, opera singer, mother, housewife. Q How many children were in your family? Where were you in the lineup? A Four children, oldest a girl, then me, then two boys. Q How has your practice changed over time? A I started as an in-house artist doing institutional work, then some animation for awhile, then in advertising, then moved to the East coast to concentrate on publishing. Q What art do you most identify with? A 19th century British watercolorists, Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, Victorian painters, Golden Age American illustrators. Q What jobs have you done other than being an artist? A Other than a paper route as a kid and delivering mail for the U. S. Post Office, I have made my living as a practicing artist or an art teacher. Q What is an artistic outlook on life? A Appreciate the beauty in everything.
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Q What memorable responses have you had to your work? A Kids’ smiles when they look at my work. Q What role does the artist have in society? A To create a bridge into the world of the imagination. We all need stories, we all need beauty, we all need to imagine. Q What do you dislike about the art world? A Artists (and art professors) who categorize and qualify with an inability to see without preconceived prejudices and agendas. Q What do you dislike about your work? A Art critics. Q How would you describe your style? A Romantic realism. Q How would you describe your aesthetics? A Beauty. Of color relationships, of form. Q What are your greatest accomplishments in this field? A Book illustration. Some of my picture books have been successful commercially as well as artistically, Sword in the Stone in particular. Q What superpower would you have and why? A Travel back in time. Is that a superpower? Q What is your dream project? A A 200 page graphic novel I have been planning for years. Q Name three artists you’d like to be compared to. A Alma Tadema, Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Rackham (actually those are three I would like to paint like, I am not sure I want to be compared to them) Q What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? A Do what you love (my father) Q What is your current or next venture? A I am drawing the rough for a 40 page self-authored picture book, as yet untitled.
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References/Resources: http://www.answers.com/topic/dennis-nolan http://www.answers.com/topic/dennis-nolan#ixzz22uMrgMYd http://www.answers.com/topic/dennis-nolan http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIjHXEqb43A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0jWMfRPMno http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBsb0fp4jNU http://www.wmig.org/artists/nolan#thumb http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/06/two-things-to-remember.html
http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nolan/Dennis_Nolan_Gallery.htm
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