The Artful Year – Interview and Book Give Away

I’ve followed a lot of blogs and bloggers over the years, and one of my long time favourites, who manages to combine information and inspiration with beautiful images and a hefty dose of real life is, Jean Van’t Hul from The Artful Parent.

Today I have a special treat, I’ve asked Jean to answer a few questions and give us a little glimpse into her life and her latest, lovely, book – The Artful Year!

Kate: Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

Jean: Sure! I guess you could say I’m a mama on a mission. I am passionate about art as an avenue for creativity, especially for children. I do my best to raise my own kids in an art-rich environment and I like to think of myself as an art enabler. My daughters and their friends are generally quite willing. I’ve been sharing our journey, ideas, and activities, for years, on my blog The Artful Parent, as well as in magazine articles and books.

While my ultimate goal is to foster children’s creativity through art, I do so primarily by sharing with adults. I aim to inspire, motivate, and educate parents, teachers, and caregivers to make art more of a priority with the kids in their lives. It’s one of the reasons I focus my writing on easy and fun arts and crafts as well as creative play ideas.

Kate: What led you to write The Artful Year?

Jean: Oh, I absolutely love celebrating the changes around the year with my family! And that includes the seasonal changes in nature, our various cultural traditions through the seasons, and of course the holidays. But first I created four e-books, season by season, as a labor of love. Later, The Artful Year transpired, based, roughly, on those four e-books.

As parents, we have the privilege of experiencing the wonder of nature, and the magic and excitement of the holidays, through a child’s eyes. It’s so different for kids than for us jaded adults. But as parents we can help shape and guide the experience our children have in this world.

I want to encourage my children to live in the moment, to experience the absolute beauty and wonder of the natural world around us, and to appreciate the ever-changing nature of life through the year. And I want to celebrate those changes with them.

Rachel Carson said, “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”

But I think the opposite can be true as well. If an adult is to regain her inborn sense of wonder, she benefits from the companionship of a child who is discovering for the first time the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.

And then there are the holidays, which hold such magic for kids! As parents, we can make holidays more meaningful for our children and families. Holiday traditions and celebrations (including crafting and cooking) can serve as touchstones and memory makers for families. Traditions that allow us to create and celebrate together help us build stronger families.

These ideas have all shaped how I observe and honor the seasons and holidays with my own family. I’ve incorporated them in many ways in The Artful Year book which I hope helps other families to celebrate them mindfully as well.

Kate: Tell us a little about where you live and the seasons there. Do you have hot summers? Snow in the winter? Do you have a favourite season?

Jean: We live in Asheville, North Carolina, which is a special sort of paradise in my mind. It’s small enough to be comfortable yet large enough to be interesting, with a thriving cultural scene. But what I especially love is that we are nestled in the mountains and surrounded by the beauty of nature.

There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thankful for where I live, and I’ve lived in many places. We get the full progression of traditional seasons, but we’re in the South (of the United States) so our winters aren’t as long or harsh as some, and our mountain elevation moderates our summers as well.

Spring is my favorite, though! The calendar year might start January 1st, but to me the new year starts best in spring! Fresh shoots poking up out of the earth, new growth on old shrubs and trees, baby animals and birds, the return of warmth and longer days—what’s not to love?!

Kate: Art and craft and cooking can sometimes be a bit messy, how do you cope with that and still stay sane?

Jean: I guess it’s a matter of priorities – I value doing creative activities with my children more than I value cleanliness.

Mess and chaos are just a part of life in general and definitely a part of parenting, whether or not we do a lot of crafting and cooking together. So why not make it fun? There are so many benefits, for childhood development, as well as family connection and dynamics, that I wouldn’t want to let a bit of mess stand in the way.

That said, sometimes any additional mess is too much, and then I redirect the kids to non-messy activities or shoo them out of the kitchen.

Kate: What art supply could you not live without?

Jean: Paints! Watercolors, tempera, BioColors, acrylic – there are so many different kinds of paint. I’d have trouble choosing just one, but I really, really like both liquid watercolors and BioColor paints.

But, also, a hot glue gun, markers, paper, contact paper …

I think I failed this question.

Kate: What do you love about being a parent? What do you struggle with?

Jean: There’s so much on both sides of the equation!

I love experiencing and sharing the world through my children’s eyes – they give me a fresh perspective on the natural world around me, people, technology, education, art, seasons, holidays, food, family. Everything is filtered now through the lens of being a parent. I live with these two kids of mine who are both such unique individuals as well as representatives of the next generation.

As for what I struggle with, wow. The list is long. I’m a long ways from the perfect person or the perfect parent. And parenting can be such a balancing act – one of understanding yourself and your kids and your relationships with them, your dreams, your parents, your significant other, your kids’ teachers, etc.

Plus, every child is different. What works with one child might not work with the other. And, to shake things up even more, kids are constantly changing. What may work for a little while stops working. The kids change, the family dynamic changes, the world is always changing. Talk about keeping us on our toes!

You can find the lovely Jean at her blog The Artful Parent, as well as on facebook, pinterest, and instagram.

The Artful Year is a beautiful book full of art, craft, cooking and seasonal ideas. Even us Aussies on the other side of the world with our backwards seasons will enjoy paging through all the wonderful, doable, ideas to find something fun to share with our families. My big boy spent an afternoon bookmarking every activity he wanted to try saying “I love this! This book has everything that I love – art, cooking and holidays!”

You can buy The Artful Year at Amazon, Book Depository and many other book stores.

Win a Copy of The Artful Year!

I have a copy of this lovely book to give away to one lucky reader!

To enter simply leave a comment on this blog post telling me what your favourite seasonal activity or recipe is, and why. The most interesting and entertaining answer will win a copy of The Artful Year.

Entries close Monday February 23rd and are open worldwide – see full terms and conditions below.

 

Competition Terms and Conditions.
You must be 18 + years of age to enter.
You must provide a valid email address and entries are limited to one per household.
Entries close Monday February 23rd at midday Australian EST.
Entries will be judged on merit and creativity.
One winner will receive a copy of the The Artful Year – prizes may differ to the ones shown here.
Winner will be contacted by email and announced on this post by Wednesday Feb 25th 2015.
The winner must contact me within 5 days or the prize will be re-drawn.
The winner agrees to have their contact details passed on to the appropriate PR company or brand representative who will send out/organise the prizes directly.

{Disclosure: we were given a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own. }