USU Grad Student Lets Public Vote on Art for His New Book

Artwork by Utah State University art graduate student Scott Wakefield will be on display at Café Ibis Gallery Deli located at 52 Federal Ave. in Logan Sept. 26 from 6-9 p.m. His display is part of the Gallery Walk, a quarterly community event hosted by the Alliance for the Varied Arts that gives the public a chance to see and purchase fine art from local artists and enjoy food and music.

His work will be on display at Café Ibis through October and features art based on his picture book called Woodchuck Chuck. The concept for the book came from the well-known tongue twister “How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck if a Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood?”

 

With the help of Robert Winward, USU art professor and his faculty advisor, Wakefield has decided to focus his master’s thesis on exploring and developing style. It is important to develop a distinct style in order to be competitive as a children’s book illustrator, Wakefield said.

 

The original pictures for the book were illustrated in a traditional style using acrylic on board. But Wakefield has been busy developing 10 different stylistic approaches and plans to have visitors of his exhibit vote for their favorite, and then he will illustrate the entire book using the winning style. The book is scheduled for release summer 2009.

 

Through his experience working to self-publish a children’s book, Wakefield has developed an online company called Illustratemybook.com. The site serves to connect writers with illustrators and helps both parties set up a contract and administers all monetary transactions. It also helps self-publishers find printers and distributors for their books. The site will be fully functioning in fall 2009.

 

More information about Wakefield’s book is available online.

 

For more information about the artist, visit his Web site or his company’s Web site. Information about the Alliance for the Varied Arts, sponsor of the Gallery Walk, is available at its Web site.

 

Contact: Scott Wakefield, 435-753-3337, scottjwakefield@yahoo.com
Writer: Annalisa Fox, 435-797-1429, annalisa.fox@usu.edu