James Allen Koichi
Moriwaki Seii, more commonly known as Allen Say, was born in Yokahama, Japan in
1937 to an American-born Japanese mother and China-raised Korean father who was
adopted by a British family. Say first dreamed of being an artist at the age of
six. His dream came true as a 12 year old when he began an apprenticeship with
his favorite cartoonist, Noro Shinpei. After four years of study with the
reknown artist, Say moved to California with his father. Studying art in high
school, a stint in the military, marriage and a host of other events filled
Say’s life and his imagination.
Allen Say pursued a
career in commercial photography, and at the age of 35, his first book, Dr. Smith’s Safari, was published. For
the next decade, Say alternated between using writing and illustrations with
his photographic works. In 1988, at a half a century old, he won the Caldecott Honor
for his book, Boy of the Three-Year Nap.
It has been said that at this time that Allen Say truly recaptured his love of
writing and illustrating children’s books. Having written works as early as
1974, some of his most widely known titles include:
The
Bicycle Man (1982)
El
Chino (1990)
Grandfather’s
Journey (1993) Caldecott Medal
Tea
With Milk (1999)
Drawing
From Memory (2011)
Say, A. (2011). Drawing From Memory. New York:
Scholastic Press.
Note: In my opinion, the excerpts that I will read marked
the turning point in Allen Say’s life. Throughout pages 17-27, we learn that
Say entered a middle school where he was supposed to begin life as a “normal”
student—studying and taking exams. Therefore, he was expected to forgo his artistic
pursuits and get serious about his education. Naturally, adhering to his true
calling, he settled into his own apartment which he had immediate plans to
transform into an art studio. While out for dinner on his first night alone, Say
read an article in a newspaper that supported this decision and forever altered
the course of his life (and ours as well).
As emotional as it is
artistic, Drawing From Memory is a
memoir by Allen Say that beautifully recalls his relationship with his mentor, Noro
Shinpei, the renowned Japanese cartoonist. Throughout the book, Say
unreservedly recounts the roles that his mother (who eventually encouraged his
artistic leanings) and that his maternal grandmother and father (who both
considered artists’ attributes—they are “lazy and scruffy people”--to be
unrespectable) played in his life and events, great and small, through sketches,
cartoons, water color paintings, black and white photographs and maps. According
to Say his mother taught him to read before he began school because she was
afraid that he would drown in the Sea of Japan. Her fear became the force that
propelled him into the world of comic books. He was safe at home reading; he
found comfort and security in his drawings. So he drew and drew. Neither of his
parents were really pleased, but his father really expressed his disdain for
his son’s decision.
At the age of eight,
Allen began first grade. His teacher, Mrs. Morita, was the first to praise his
drawing abilities. World War II, his parents’ marital problems and the family’s
dissolution, separation and relocation signaled the start of Say’s new life
with his grandmother. It also meant that he would soon leave her house, start a
middle school and be expected to abandon art.
According to a simplistic
psychological definition of memory that I retrieved from Wikipedia, memory
involves:
encoding--receiving
and processing information
storage--creating
a permanent record of the encoded information, and
recollection--recalling
back that stored information in response to a cue
Drawing
From Memory is well-organized and well-developed. Though
he is not one I would consider a wordsmith, I really enjoyed reading Say’s book because of the free
and public way that he expressed private, personal details of his life through
mere memories. He presented us with the good, the bad and the in-between in the
language he knew he could fully express himself—art! What is remarkable, reflecting the reasons
that he is revered, is that Say did this by taking us on a journey through the
rudimentary stages of his artistic expression and then allowing us to settle in
with him as he became firmly rooted in his ultimate level of artistic sophistication.
That is truly praiseworthy!
While trying to recall
the memoirs that I had recently read and/or owned, two very well received ones came
to mind: Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays With Morrie and Night by Elie Wiesel. Neither of them
involved a single person who had experienced a creative, emotional, physical
and/or spiritual awakening in ways similar to Allen Say’s as did another
favorite work by author and poet Maya Angelou.
In her 1969 autobiography
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,
Angelou took us on a journey from childhood to near adulthood that paralleled
Say’s. Both Say and Angelou experienced disappointment and rejection at a very
young age. Nevertheless, they were inspired, encouraged and elevated through
the professional and ultimately more personal relationships with a teacher. Maya
had Mrs. Flowers who encouraged her to read, but more importantly to speak. Allen
had his sensei, his teacher/mentor, Noro Shinpei who set an example for him and
motivated him to reach even higher heights.
I would definitely recommend
Allen Say’s Drawing From Memory. Though
at first glance, it may seem to primarily be a children’s picture book. After
all, it is full of cartoons. However, it is far more than that. The content is
mature. Issues of unrest, abandonment, rejection, dreams chased and dreams
captured would meet the social and emotional needs of readers as young as preteens
who are may be experiencing similar issues in their lives. An artist who is
considering giving up his or her pursuit of happiness should consider drawing
from their own memories, reminding themselves what made them fall in love with
art, encouraging them to renew that relationship. I really like Drawing because it makes me think of how
I keep my grandmother’s memory and our shared love alive. She passed away four
years ago, so by constantly crocheting and recalling our crafting stories, like
Say, I am proving that our projects as well as our passion can be passed on to
our posterity. I, too, have been drawing from memory.
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