Episode #107: What do you do if you accidentally ruin your art? with Huy Voun Lee
Welcome back! We are joined by authors Grace Lin and Huy Voun Lee as they answer another great kid question; “What do you do if you accidentally ruin your art?”
TRANSCRIPT:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, When The Sea Turned To Silver, and the picture book, A Big Moon Cake For Little Star.
Grace Lin: Today, I'm here with Huy Voun Lee, the author and illustrator of books such as, Like A Dandelion and Exotic Fruit. The art from, Like A Dandelion, is also featured in the picture book exhibit, Asians, Everyday, which you can now see online.
Grace Lin: Hi Huy.
Huy Voun Lee: Hi.
Grace Lin: Thank you so much for joining me today.
Huy Voun Lee: Thank you for inviting me.
Grace Lin: Are you ready for today's kid question?
Huy Voun Lee: Yes.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's kid question is from a kid named Jackson and Jackson asks...
Jackson: What do you do if you accidentally ruin your art?
Grace Lin: What do you do if you accidentally ruin your art?
Huy Voun Lee: Well, I think creating art is a process is full of mistakes and every time we ruin it, we discover a new way of fixing it. I think sometime, an accident's also blessing in disguise, especially when you're working with watercolor, you have the unexpected splash or drip. It can be really beautiful.
Huy Voun Lee: Also, when I work in collage, I can always use another piece of paper to place over my mistakes, or when I'm doing an intricate paper cut, I would make adjustment to my cut and nobody would know it except me.
Grace Lin: Do you have an example in one of your books where you maybe made a mistake and then it turned out even better?
Huy Voun Lee: Yes, actually my first. I would say my first book, At The Beach, I made a lot of mistake because that was my first book and I was just able to just keep adding more stuff to it and changing my paper and then the collage.
Grace Lin: That turned out into a very beautiful book. I love that one, so I think that's a great example of showing how your mistakes actually turned out really, really great.
Huy Voun Lee: Thank you.
Grace Lin: I love the way that you put that because I think in some ways where I use the word mistakes and Jackson used the word ruin and I think the way you put it is the fact that there really is no mistakes and there are no ruining, that it's just a process, a journey of your art. I really love how you put that.
Huy Voun Lee: Thank you. You really can't ruin anything. It's just all a learning process when you're doing art or anything.
Grace Lin: Exactly, though, have you ever ruined something, not in the art process? Let's say your cat jumping on it or like, or something that has not to do with the art process.
Grace Lin: I'm just thinking about once I was drinking tea and I spilled my tea all over the art and that definitely felt like ruining.
Huy Voun Lee: Yeah. That would be. Cooking. I guess cooking has a lot of mistake that sometime I discover a new flavor by adding other stuff into it and then it's become a different dish altogether.
Grace Lin: That's a beautiful way of looking at it. So even if I ruin my art by accidentally throwing my tea on it, maybe I'm creating something completely new, just like with cooking. What a good way of looking at it as a good [crosstalk 00:03:54].
Huy Voun Lee: Do you know how Asian cooking, especially Chinese cooking, we don't really measure anything. It always come out a little bit different and then, especially like soup. It's great, or making sauces, it's always coming up with new dishes.
Grace Lin: Hmm. That is such a good way of putting it. That a correlation between our art and well, I guess cooking and creating pictures. That's maybe why I like doing so many books about food.
Grace Lin: All right. Well thank you so much, Huy, for answering today's question and answering it so beautifully.
Grace Lin: And thank you Jackson for asking this question too.
Huy Voun Lee: Thank you.
Grace Lin: Bye, Huy.
Huy Voun Lee: Bye.
Today’s KID BOOK REVIEW comes from Maddie! Maddie is reviewing, Like a Dandelion, by Huy Voun Lee.
The book I would like to talk about is Like a Dandelion written by Huy Voun Lee. This book is about a refugee moving to America and the life cycle of a dandelion! The main character is Huy and she has a hard time fitting in once she was in America. She found some friends and was very happy. Another refugee arrived, but this time Huy was the person who helped her fit in. The life cycle of a dandelion started again. This is my favorite book that I have reviewed. I LOVE this book because I learned something new about refugees and I also loved the fact that it was comparing a Dandelion Life Cycle to a Refugee Life Cycle. On the last page, there is a dandelion life cycle. What I did was as I was reading, every time that I thought that it was changing in the life cycle, I looked at the last page and figured out where it was in the life cycle. For example on page 3 when they were moving into their apartment, “We put down roots in unfamiliar soil.” I automatically knew that was the first part of the life cycle. But when I looked at the last page, it actually wasn’t the first. It was the last because the roots are growing in. The first one was when it was being shy. I also love how Huy was reading a book written by herself In the Snow. The most important part of the book is the pictures. The pictures tell the story and if you read this book without the pictures, you would miss the dandelion and the dandelion is the most important thing. Another really important part of this book is the Authors Note and dedication. In the Authors Note, it shows a real picture of her and her family in a refugee camp when she was 5 and it tells how dandelions are liked and disliked in America just like refugees are liked and disliked in America. The dedication is very important because it says the American people who welcome Refugees is who America really is. This book is amazing and ALL ages need to read it.
Thank you Maddie!
More about today’s authors:
Huy Voun Lee arrived in New York City at the age of six as a Cambodian refugee. She quickly developed a love for art and Origami. Huy has written and illustrated many books for children using her colorful cut paper style incorporating Chinese characters into her books. On many days, she can be found sharing the joys of Origami and art with school children in New York City and visitors of the Museum of Natural History. Huy studied at the School for Visual Arts and lives with her husband on the Upper West Side.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Please visit the Asians, Everyday exhibit found online at the Carle Museum featuring Huy Voun Lee!
“Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Grace Lin curated this online exhibition, launched May 2021 in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Asians, Everyday showcases positive Asian American representation. The selected artworks and books, featuring contemporary characters and stories, celebrate our common humanity by depicting Asian Americans living their everyday lives.”
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