STARRY NIGHT

OLYMPUS μ TOUGH-8010

오랜만이다. 글을 쓰지 못하는 중에도 시간은 흘러 어느덧 5월이다. 얼마 전 수원으로 출장을 갔다가 눈에 띄는 천문대가 있어 사진에 담았다. 최근에 지어진 화려한 천문대들에 익숙해진 눈을 가졌다면 사진 속의 돔은 개인용이라 해도 믿을 만한 외양을 가졌다. 하지만, 수많은 이들의 천문학적 호기심을 채워준 빛나는 역사를 가졌음을 생각한다면 겉모습이 가지는 가치란 크지 않은 것임을 다시 일깨워준다. 
사진을 보면 하단 우측에 교회의 첨탑이 있고, 돔 위로는 검은 점처럼 보이는 헬리콥터가 날고 있다. 먹구름에 가위눌린 천문대, 악천후로 위태로운 헬기, 음지에 처한 교회... 하늘에 바라는 건 한 가지일 것이다.

    Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia in 1977 and bred in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
As a teenager, he thoroughly enjoyed playing the spoons and travelled the land frequenting every pub he could find looking for a group of musicians to harmoniously add his percussive talents to. Unfortunately, no-one recognised his musical talent, so to force some other way of fitting in, Oliver painted them instead. It was when he came runner-up in The Irish News amateur art competition in 1995 that he seriously considered painting as a direction in which to take his life. It was a good decision, as since then Oliver has travelled the globe extensively, exhibiting his work in New York, Sydney, Melbourne, London, Belfast and Glengormley.
He made his name as a young contemporary artist with several small exhibitions in Belfast between 1995 and 1998. At this time, Oliver also began illustrating book jackets for local publishing houses.
Whilst taking a break from university during 1999-2000, Oliver travelled across America and Australia, settling in Sydney for a period to work in freelance illustration and painting. In Australia, he illustrated for various magazines and got his first big break when Lavazza Coffee Company saw his offbeat coffee illustrations. They subsequently commissioned him to paint some pictures for their HQ and to illustrate their Christmas cards. They also featured him in a live exhibition during the Aroma coffee festival at The Rocks, Sydney, where he illustrated on site in front of thousands of people, using coffee rings and black ink.
Oliver returned from his travels in 2000 to finish his degree at the University of Ulster. He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Illustration and Visual Communication. During his final year, he had a prominent exhibition of portraiture in the John Hewitt Bar, Belfast. The exhibition was entitled 'Boys At The Bar', and depicted the afternoon (and morning!) drinking culture of Belfast. It attracted a great deal of media attention and all 16 pieces sold on the opening night.
Oliver's eye-catching style of artwork has taken him in many directions, including poster illustration, painting 10 commissioned artworks for a London bar and designing album covers. He paints in an impressive range of styles and sizes with a wide variety of media, and is currently experimenting by pushing the creative boundaries of picture books.
Oliver began writing and illustrating children's stories when he realised that people didn't believe what he did with his time. He has had a number of adventures that he has collected into his books for children; his debut picture book, 'How to Catch a Star', was inspired by a moment sitting on the end of a jetty in Sydney, looking at the stars. Not having an agent, Oliver sent his work unsolicited to HarperCollins Publishers. Its potential was immediately recognised, it was whisked off the slush pile and the publishing process began. In 2004, the book was published by HarperCollins Children's Books and was also short listed for the Booktrust Early Years Award for Best New Illustrator. In 2005, 'How to Catch a Star' won a Merit Award at the CBI/Bisto Book of Year Awards.
After the international success of 'How to Catch a Star', Oliver went on to produce the breathtakingly beautiful follow-up, 'Lost and Found', which garnered fantastic sales and critical acclaim on publication and went on to win the Gold Award at Nestle Children's Book Prize in 2005.
He continues to exhibit his art in major cities of the world and was recently commissioned to produce illustrations for Starbucks' nation-wide in-store displays in the UK
Oliver loves plastic food, suitcase handles and Elvis, and has developed a bizarre habit of endlessly writing lists he never reads. He remains hell bent on travelling all over the world. 


* 영문 줄거리 및 작가 약력 출처 : 교보문고

Monica wants the moon to play with, so her Papa sets out to get it for her. It isn't easy to climb all the way up to the moon, but he finally succeeds-only to find that the moon is too big to carry home!. The way in which this problem is solved is a joyful surprise.
Here is a multi-faceted story that appeals to children visually, verbally and emotionally, and which also contains a first lesson in natural history, depicting the eternal cycle of the waxing and waning of the moon. The simple text, just right for reading aloud or for the beginning reader expresses perfectly the purity of a father's love for his child. Small readers will empathize with Monica's longing for the moon, and will be reassured by her father's willingness to try to make her wish come true. And, on a deeper level, they will recognize that Papa is not merely fulfilling Monica's whim, but is demonstrating to her that even a seemingly unreachable goal can actually be attained. Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me is a book to be re-read many times, and to be treasured for its beauty and its positive message of love and inspiration.

Eric Carle well-known creator of many beloved picture books for small readers and listeners, including such classics as Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, The Tiny Seed, Rooster's Off to See the World, A House for Hermit Crab, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He is especially celebrated for his unique ability to combine learning with pleasure. Children delight in the distinctive beauty of his illustrations - richly layered collages in glowing colors - and they love his entertaining stories, which invite them to make their own discoveries in a natural, joyful way.
Born in Syracuse, New York, Eric Carle received much of his education in Germany. He is a graduate of the Akademie der bildenden Kunste in Stuttgart, where he learned about Goethe's color theory and complementary colors. But the chief inspiration for Hello, Red Fox came from his talks with young readers themselves, who were surprised and fascinated when he demonstrated for them - just like in this book - that all colors have opposites.
Eric Carle has two grown children. He and his wife live in western Massachusetts.



* 영문 줄거리 및 서평, 작가 소개 출처 : 교보문고