(uplifting instrumental music) - [Patricia] The Mazza, what is so wonderful about that place?

- [Matthew] The Mazza is my home.

- [Rosemary] The Mazza is terrific, it is an innovator.

- [Tom] A place like the Mazza is a great experience for kids to have.

- To describe Mazza Museum in one word, I would have to say magical.

- [Matthew] Their mission is the same as mine.

They tell the story behind the story.

- [Marc] One of the most powerful things that the Mazza Museum has is the ability to communicate with children globally with this repository of amazing picture book art.

- [Judith] Mazza is just not this little entity in Findlay, Ohio, but is becoming world known.

- [Wendell] They're doing some of the most important work in children's literature.

Bringing the message of children's literature to the general public, to teachers, to educators, to children.

- [Tom] They can go there and see all this art on the wall, and it represents all these people all over the world, all over the country, who've made a career making art.

- [Don] I want kids to know that they can do it, just like I can do it.

- [Matthew] I would like a young person to be able to go into the Mazza, and realize that they can do anything, and that this world is filled with magic.

(uplifting instrumental music) (cheerful instrumental music) - [Voiceover] This film was produced in cooperation with the University of Findlay's Mazza Museum.

Major funding for "The Magic of Mazza" is provided by the Mariann Dana Younger Fund at the Findlay Hancock County Community Foundation, in dedication to Jerry Mallett.

(uplifting instrumental music) (pensive instrumental music) - The mission of the Mazza Museum is to promote literacy, enrich the lives of all people, people of all ages, through the art found in picture books.

- So the comment that I hear most when people are visiting Mazza for the first time, is that it's a hidden gem.

And they often ask, "Why haven't we heard about this sooner?"

That was also my very first reaction to it.

- If I had to describe or explain to anyone as to what it is that the Mazza Museum is, I would say that it is an opportunity to see how important children's literature is to our families, to our schools, and to our value system.

- To me, Mazza is making available to the public a very personal experience to stand at the elbow of that artist, even though they're physically not standing next to you.

If you're in front of their work, they're next to you.

- They're telling the story behind the story, really.

We're seeing one story in a book, but there's a story behind that, and those people have stories.

- Good story paired with good art, this place is one of the best in the world to find that.

- They're doing some of the most important work in children's literature.

Bringing the message of children's literature to the general public.

- Any child, any educator, any parent, any grandparent would be fascinated by the experience of a visit.

- [Benjamin] When children come in here, we want this artwork to serve as a resource, for them to recall comprehension, for them to be able to use it to help with their reading, to also then to spark interest, to pick up other books, and to go to the library to find other resources that might be related to something that they saw here.

- The Mazza collection is doing something extremely important.

They have become a repository for picture books, but it also sends a message to all of us about the importance and the value of picture books, and how they can build a lifelong appreciation for curiosity, and reading, which is the key to education.

It's the key to everything.

- The first understanding of art itself.

The first experience with visual energy and excitement comes from, most oftentimes with children, from a children's book.

- The Mazza Museum began in 1982, at a time when Findlay College was celebrating its hundredth anniversary.

And the president at that time asked each college to do something new or unique that might be around for 10 years, to celebrate that anniversary.

A professor in the College of Education, Dr. Jerry Mallett, also was a writer of some picture books, as well as many teacher resource materials.

And it was his idea to create a place that would give recognition to the art of picture books.

And he felt like their art for many years was not given the credit that it deserved.

- Because I knew the quality of art in picture books, children's picture books, was so underrated, it was incredible.

And so I thought maybe we could do something like that.

Start a collection of children's original art from children's books.

- [Benjamin] And so he came back, and met with the president, and said, "Here's my idea."

And the president said, "Let's plan for this."

So Dr. Mallett met with Dr. August and Aleda Mazza.

They were Findlay College grads in 1941, and they gave the seed money to start the collection in 1982.

- We started with four pieces of art in the basement of our library here on campus, Shafer Library.

Which I was thrilled, I thought we'd start with one piece if we could manage it, and that's how it started.

- I met Jerry very early in my career, and he was this exuberant, and he got so much energy, and love for children's books.

I mean, just, it was unbridled, and he knew everything and everyone, and he made you love him.

- [Wendell] Jerry was a unique individual.

He had such enthusiasm, he was electric.

When he got on stage, he just would light up the place.

And his enthusiasm, and his passion for creating the basic elements of the Mazza Museum, you can't stress it enough.

he was just an incredible person.

- And the thing that was so wonderful about him, especially early in my career, is he was so supportive.

He made me feel important.

He made me feel like what I was doing was good.

He was the first one to make me feel like I was family, like this was home.

So I miss him, I miss him a lot, but his spirit is there everywhere.

- Jerry's dream, Dr. Mallet's dream was if somehow Mazza could create or acquire at least one new work of art a year, his goal or dream would be met.

And today, we have over 15,000 original works of art from artists from all over the world.

So with his enthusiasm, and his foundation that he gave to the university, and to the museum, it has grown a great deal.

(classical instrumental music) - All of us in the field of illustration are really considered commercial artists, and not fine artists.

And it is an anomaly that we are considered second tier because we are illustrators.

Those people are often the finest illustrators, the finest artists, period.

So I was thrilled to find that there was a museum that would honor the art of illustration.

- We need to give children the highest quality artwork that we can possibly produce, by serious artists who are dedicated to their craft, and want children to develop their visual vocabulary, and become as fluent as possible in the fact that there's all kinds of different visual ways of expressing different feelings, and describing different characters.

- This is art that we all see since we're very young.

It is a part of our mind, and the way we look at the world.

To not treat that art with respect, we see things like the "David", and "Mona Lisa", and all these things, and they're amazing, and they've been around forever.

But you've seen "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" since you were, you can't even remember when.

That artwork should be treated the same as any other great work.

- I think the importance of showcasing an artist's work at the Mazza, I think it's vital.

Not only for other artists, because I love going in there, and getting into the archives, and looking at things, and sometimes you can even get an inkling of their process, and how that happened.

As an artist, I love this.

It's important for educators.

Of course, a child looking at it is going to be inspired, 'cause they're gonna go, "Oh, I could do this."

And they can.

- [Marc] I love the way the museum uses the art to educate.

They make these books come to life, and when you think about it, it's such a unique opportunity that they have, to have the original art there.

And for kids to be able to see that, see the actual piece of canvas or board that that was painted on.

Or to see sketches for things, the process of how those pieces of art were made.

To have that original art there to share with a child is so special.

- [Wendell] Having my work represented in museums is a dream come true.

Originally, I thought I would be a painter, and thought, well, that would be wonderful.

But then I realized if you illustrate for books, it's a very democratic way of getting your art to the most number of people.

My books are seen by millions of kids, and when museums started taking children's book illustration seriously, that's when we all began to realize how important this work really is.

- It does put it on a pedestal a little bit for children, and tells them that art is important.

And that's a message that I didn't always get when I was a kid.

I grew up in a kind of a factory town, and they didn't know what to do with me.

There were times when my artistic talent was recognized, and applauded, but not consistently, and not as a career path.

So I kind of had to find my own way.

(playful instrumental music) - Watching my dad go to work every day.

He worked on the railroad in Erie, Pennsylvania, and he hated his job.

And as a child, that made a real impression on me.

I thought, I don't want to grow up, and have a job that I hate.

- [Matthew] Growing up, I feel like, especially when I was really young, art was my first way of communicating.

It's always been an integral part of who I am, and what I am.

- Well, I can't think of a time that I was not an artist.

I was the kind of kid who was always keeping my hands busy.

Braiding, macraming, building.

You remember Lincoln Logs, I loved all of that kind of stuff.

- When I was little, my mother always kept a kitchen table covered with felt, and glitter, and glue, and scissors, and papers.

It was the art table, so anytime the spirit moved me, ooh, I'd sit at that art table and go.

- I started drawing long before I remember.

At the age of two, according to my mother, I don't remember a time where I haven't been an artist, or I haven't done drawings, and I have no idea why or how, none of us really do.

- As all children, I drew from a very, very early age.

But I grew up in a community where there were no artists, so there were really no role models to look at.

I didn't, if you would've asked me at the age of seven, or eight years old, "Would you wanna be an artist?"

I would've said, "What's an artist?"

I would've told you that I loved drawing, and then the response might have been that that's an artist.

But I wouldn't, I didn't know it then, and I didn't see it as something to pursue because I didn't know if it had a future.

- I didn't start writing for children until I was 41 years old, which surprises a lot of people.

And I've been writing now for 35 years, so now you know how old I am.

The art though is always there, because I'm learning disabled.

I have dyslexia, dysnumeria, dysgraphia, so school and academics were very difficult for me.

- Frankly, it was the only thing I was good at, so it just came naturally.

I would draw when other kids were doing other things.

Other kids were probably doing their homework, I was drawing.

Other kids were probably listening to the teacher, I was drawing.

I've since learned that I'm a visual learner, so that even doodling in the classroom was my way of processing the information I actually was learning.

- There were some notes about, well, whatever that subject was, but then there was always this huge area on each page that was just drawings and sketches, or whatever else I was thinking about.

That was the side of things that I really wanted to focus on, but then there was the other side.

- [Tom] I wasn't good at sports, I wasn't good in school, I wasn't the coolest kid in the class, but I could draw, and I really enjoyed it.

- I was born with this talent to be able to draw, and to be able to create.

I was never good at sports, I was never good at math, and I was never good with anything else.

But the one thing that I could do better than everyone else is I could draw pictures.

So of course, I became an artist.

- But there was a certain point where I realized that there was a skill or gift there that my friends didn't have.

And there was something else that was important, this started really when I entered school, at around first or second grade.

And I found that I was lagging far behind the other students in reading, and spelling, and composition, and things like that.

And I was looking for a way to keep it sort of a balance of self-esteem, and I began to lean into drawing, and as a way to feel better about myself.

- I'm a recovering dyslexic, so I always drew pictures as a kid because they made more sense to me than words.

And so by the time I was in fourth grade, I had made the decision to be an artist.

How that was gonna happen, I didn't know, but I stuck with it.

- Now, as an adult, I know now that I'm dyslexic, but I didn't know that.

There was no such word as dyslexia, or strategy certainly to deal with someone like myself.

Now, so drawing became that instrument for me to feel better about myself.

- What we like to say is the mediums that you see in fine art, you will see reflected in picture book art.

From watercolor, to gouache, to linocut, to the many of the printmaking techniques, to oil paints.

- [Wendell] I have painted in oils, and acrylics, and pastels over the years, but gouache seems to be the medium that I have mastered.

- [Don] In high school, I was painting with airbrushes, and colored pencils, and water colors.

The first few books that I illustrated were oil paints, pastels, or chalk.

I really wanted to do something digital, and I remember a lot of people were afraid of the idea of drawing and creating art on a computer.

But I took to it, and I tried to convince my editor to let me illustrate a book on the computer.

"No Don, this looks to computery."

So then I created another drawing using digital watercolors.

And this time, I didn't tell her that it was created on a computer.

I just said, "How do you like this one?"

And she said, "I love it, I love the looseness of the watercolors."

And I said, "This was done on the computer."

So that was how I was finally able to make that jump from natural media watercolors to digital watercolors.

- I work traditionally with more digital components than you would suspect.

I'm at the computer probably 30% of the time.

I have done a book where I did the drawings traditionally, so traditional pencil drawings, and then scanned them, and did all the color digitally.

But you know what, it wasn't as much fun.

It's efficient, but you know what's missing, is risk, there's no risk.

When I pick up a paintbrush, and I dip my brush in watercolor, and I go to put it on the paper, it could be magical, it could be terrible.

But that risk of not knowing is what creates the dopamine and the excitement in my brain, so I will always go back to that.

- Most people consider me a watercolorist.

Well, I don't, I'm a drawer.

When I went into bookwork, most of the work that was going to be reproduced started out with a line drawing first, and then color would be added.

Then so there was limitations in terms of reproduction.

- When I first started in children's books, you were encouraged to work in black and white 'cause it was cheaper to reproduce.

And then now there are very few black and white books, but black and white can be very powerful.

It can create a different kind of emotional, like some of the great black and white films.

Black and white can be very effective, and then the company dialogue to accent the points.

- So when the idea of reproduction opened up, so that full color artwork, what we see today was accessible to everyone, I would start out with a drawing that I knew, and then there was a transparent watercolor which allowed the line to play its role, the role that I wanted it to play.

And so therefore, I became a watercolorist.

- [Steven] I don't think it really matters what materials you use in order to create a picture that will be compelling to a kid.

Almost every illustration has a little bit of everything in it.

I think you choose the materials based on what you want to say, and if you choose the materials that says it the very best, then the kids will respond to that.

I think illustrations are extremely important in the development of a young person, because visual literacy is something that is a gift that we all have access to.

One of the things about illustrations, about visual arts generally, is they really are invitation to see details, to look closer, to make associations, and to reach conclusions.

- [Wendell] And a young child who is learning to read can look at those pictures, and begin to relate the words on the page to the pictures.

And it's a great learning tool, especially when a parent sits down, and has a child on their lap, and they begin to read.

Eventually they start recognizing the words that go with the pictures, and that's incredibly important.

- [Benjamin] When children come in here, we want this artwork to serve as a resource, for them to be recall comprehension, for them to be able to use it to help with their reading.

To also then to spark interest, to pick up other books, and to go to the library to find other resources that might be related to something that they saw here.

- I love the idea that I'm using my artwork to encourage literacy.

My artwork is being used to teach children how to read.

My artwork is being used to get to draw children into books.

And I can't think of a better way to use one's artwork.

- When the Mazza Museum has teachers and kids come in, and listen, and look at the physical book, and have story times.

The children enjoy it.

Mazza does a great job in promoting reading aloud, and children's books does a fabulous job.

We need a Mazza in every town in America.

- The value of being read to, for me, was hearing beautiful language, and wanting with all my heart to write exactly like that.

I think that the beauty of illustration is that it transcends language.

My books are printed in many languages.

The artwork is the same because that is conveying the story, that was my intent when I wrote it and drew it.

I suspect any kid from any country is gonna be able to follow that story by the artwork.

- [Marc] Every child, no matter what color their skin is, can identify with these characters.

- [Rosemary] One of the things I can do for kids through my books is get kids to laugh at the stories, and enjoy them, and see themselves.

And that is what the great genius of the picture book is all about.

(cheerful instrumental music) - I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought I'm going to Findlay, Ohio, and I didn't expect the power of what I was going to discover there.

There was this amazing collection of all of these kindred spirits that I know.

And for me, I love to see the original art from other people I admire.

And to have rooms filled with these amazing pieces of art that came from books that were so powerful for me, and special was an unforgettable experience.

- The Mazza has been in my life since the beginning of my career.

It is one of the finest museums I have ever experienced.

We know that at the Mazza they, of course, they're so respectful with the actual work that they have, that they've collected.

It's this precious, precious thing.

That in itself is wonderful, that the object is great, but when I have gone, they treat me like gold, immediately like family.

- So I first became aware of Mazza while I was doing, I think I was doing a school visit there in Toledo, Ohio.

I kind of prepared myself before I went into the museum, because typically when I go into a museum, I don't see artwork on the walls that represent people who look like me.

And I don't see artists, there's no artwork created by African Americans on the walls.

But one of the first pieces that I saw at the Mazza was by Brian Collier.

And then I saw something by Pinkney, then I saw something by Floyd Cooper.

And it just felt like a very welcoming place for someone like me.

- The camaraderie is, I think, one of the things that Mazza provided for me.

When I left Mazza, and returned to the studio, my work, the work of my fellow artists gained in value.

And I think more than anything is when you come back energized by the experience of being in that space.

I think it was a combination of a lot of things.

It was Jerry, and then Ben, but again, it was the fellow artists that were there.

So you got all these personalities and energy that come out of people who would respect, and appreciate, and celebrate the work of children's book artists.

And it's rich, yeah.

We all express ourselves, and the hope is that we are valued, and appreciated.

Mazza provided that, to be valued, and appreciated, and celebrated.

- When I reflect on a place like Mazza, I just have an enormous amount of gratitude that there are people who pool their talents, and their resources, and were able to develop a relationship with Findlay College, and to put together an institution that is dedicated to bringing children and books meaningfully together.

And I think it's just a win-win situation, and their facilities for maintaining and protecting artwork.

I just got a whole other level of appreciation for them, and I think they're just an outstanding national treasure, we're very lucky to have them.

(upbeat instrumental music) - Well, I think Mazza is really one of the most important museums in the country for preserving the art of American illustrators.

I think it's a teaching tool.

It's also a museum of art, but it essentially is an important teaching tool.

And the programs that they have, and the seminars they have are incredibly important.

And I think they've contributed greatly to the world of art.

- [Marc] I keep having these thoughts about what do I do with 130 books, the art.

And my studio on Martha's Vineyard has a whole small room with shelves filled with boxes of artwork.

I have to think about where all this art is gonna go because I can only give so much of it away, and I really want it to be used by future generations, so that they can understand what we were doing now, and what made a picture book now.

Because the way that they're going to be taking in stories a hundred years from now will probably be very different.

- One of the things that is most interesting to me, which I hadn't thought about when I was a younger artist, was what happens to this work?

How will it be cared for?

Will it have another life?

And Mazza provides that, there's a sense of security, or cushion.

When you make art, there's the idea of making art, there's the practice of making art, it's the refinement of making art.

It's all the years of building, and then you finally, you make it, and you've made it, and then what happens?

And Mazza provides this place that it will live again, and so that's important.

That's actually critical, any creative person wants to feel that they're making a contribution, and that contribution is respected and cared for.

- I had thousands of original pieces of art, and it worried me, it worried me all the time.

What if there's a fire?

I got all these years of work.

So for me, having Mazza have my work was, number one, a relief it was safe, that made me happy and satisfied.

- When my work went to the Mazza Museum, and I saw how they store it, and archive it, and catalog it, it almost felt like it was too good for my work because they treat it like gold.

When I'm done with an illustration personally, I just kind of chuck it into a pile in the corner because I'm done with it.

It's given me the joy of creating it.

It's given the publisher something to publish so kids can see it, but as a work of art then, I'm kind of done with it.

I don't need to see it, I don't need to go back to it.

So the way that they archive the work is wonderful, and that students can call up there and say, "Hey, I'd like to come see these four or five pieces."

And they say, "Sure."

When they lay it out, and it's all treated like it's precious, and I think that's great.

And I love the fact that they also take my sketches so that people can see the progression of how a thing happens.

Because to me as an artist, seeing sketches and preliminary work is actually more valuable than seeing the finished work, because then I can see the trail that someone took to that finished work.

- To have a place where your artwork can go, and it can be shared, it doesn't do me any good being in boxes somewhere.

Why not share it with somebody else, 'cause they're really gonna appreciate it.

I don't care about all that other stuff, keeping it doesn't do me any good.

Having it out there in the world, if it can inspire one person, then that's the greatest thing for me.

I was so happy to give it to them, their enthusiasm for it all, that's where it should be.

So I'll always share as much as I can with the Mazza.

- How much something's worth monetarily means nothing, but how many people can learn from it, see, that's what Mazza represents.

And I feel happy now that my artwork is there, and that students from the college will come over, and students from the schools will come and see what I did with my life, and see what I needed to share with them.

To me, this is a higher purpose.

Mazza represents that to me, does that make sense?

Represents a higher purpose to me.

It takes my all I did in my life, and makes it now available to the future.

But I spent my whole life sharing every little thing I saw outdoors, and they will take that into the future, along with the other artists whose work they have.

- I love the idea of being able to, a student being able to go to the Mazza, and to be able to see the artwork that an illustrator from the 1960 created for a particular book.

And to be able to see that artwork, and not only to see the artwork, but the layers and the texture.

Because so much artwork is being created on the computer now, that I'm afraid that a lot of that early artwork is going to be lost, so I think that it's wonderful that the Mazza is preserving that artwork for future generations.

- [Steven] I know the things of mine that they have there, when I visited and saw the way they are caring for them, I was just highly impressed, and couldn't think of a better way for the work to have evolved from here to a place where I know it will be available to anybody who's interested for generations to come.

The Mazza Museum has put together, with really expert sort of guidance, a facility that is world class.

- When I explain what a curator does, which is often to school groups, I tell them a curator is somebody that takes care of the art.

But then I wanna take that a step further, I am the person that gives you a reason to care about the art.

Because if you don't care about the art, the museum cannot last, and the stories are forgotten.

I have the awesome privilege and responsibility of looking after some of the most beloved artwork that the world has known in terms of picture book illustrations.

So the process for preserving the artworks and inventorying them really had to evolve when I first came.

Jerry was not around for me to ask, "How did you do this, what were your plans?"

He had a group of volunteers working with him.

It was this group of former administrators, and librarians, and teachers that had come in, and they would help Jerry the day-to-day in the vault.

They agreed to stick around to help me to come up with a new process.

Quite frankly, I would not be able to do what I do without them.

The process that we made is over 50 steps.

The work of art comes in, and the very first thing is to identify the work of art.

The next part is to scan the work, so we do a high resolution scan of that.

So we have a digital copy in case anything were to happen to the original, but also for our database.

The next part of that is to secure the work of art, and mount it in archival materials.

So I take it out of whatever it's in, and we prep it in a custom mat with mounting corners that hold the work in place without damaging it.

It then goes into an archival sleeve, and is labeled with an acquisition number so that I can find it in the database.

And then that goes into the stacks inside the vault, which is the temperature and humidity controlled chamber.

And we also keep our work in the dark, so there are layers of redundant protection built in to make sure that that artwork will outlast all of us.

So the reason that is important to preserve works of art, I think as people we tend to take for granted that art and great art will always be there, and that's not the case.

Sadly, art is transient in nature, it's not going to last forever.

The best we can hope to do is prolong the life of that.

I think that's what makes it so special to have around, but also, it does add pressure, that there is only one of those.

I try to protect it from all of the things that can damage it.

- So I think that it is very important the work that Mazza is doing in preserving artwork.

It's always wonderful to actually be able to hold an artifact in your hands.

- [Jim] Mazza preserves those things, the real thing.

They preserve the physical drawing, painting, manuscript.

No matter how technology advances, we need the physical presence.

Mazza enshrines the act of art.

- I think it's really important that the Mzza is preserving that process of the artist, because you're showing how that artist got there.

How did they get from A to B, what motivated them?

- So the very first thing that I do when I illustrate a book is I create thumbnail sketches.

Thumbnail sketches are tiny little sketches, kind of gestural sketches, that's where they're very quick.

I don't spend any more than 10 seconds or so, I just kind of want to get my idea on paper.

So you can imagine these are very loose, and then I lay out all of my sketches on a page, and then I decide I kind of like that one, I don't like that one, this is not working very well.

Sometimes I will create hundreds of thumbnail sketches.

Once I decide that the book is working fairly well, and my editor and art director think the book is working fairly well, then I will create tighter sketches.

And that's where I get on my computer, and I do some research, and then I use all of that research to inform my drawings.

I never draw a picture one time.

I might draw that picture 30, or 40 times before I finally end up in a place where I like the drawings, my drawings are working well.

I send them to my editor, and what do you think she says?

"Not quite there yet."

- And I described it once at Mazza as making maple syrup.

And it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and that's exactly what it should take to make one good book, nonfiction book for children.

You need that much raw material to boil down, and get it across the children in a way that they'll be able to remember it.

- When I create a picture book, I'm writing my script for the actors, I'm casting them, I'm costuming them, I'm doing the sets, and I'm directing their movements.

Picture books are like animation, you just have the addition of movement and sound.

It's like what I'm doing with "Arthur" on television, so picture books are a very special medium, and to me, they're alive, and it's where we stop the frame that we see in the museum.

- [Patricia] So from the time I'm thinking of a book till you see it on a shelf, almost two years have gone by.

An entire army of people made that book happen.

Then they turn it into a polished, beautiful thing.

(cheerful instrumental music) - [Tom] "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site" is an example of how I use a different medium for every book, I use a medium that's appropriate to that book.

And with that book, I knew I wanted it to be kind of gritty.

So I developed this medium, it's crayon on textured paper 'cause I wanted that grittiness.

- [Marc] So it's fun for kids to see the process of how a picture book is made, how we figure it out.

It just doesn't fall onto the page perfectly the first time.

I use a lot of erasers.

- 'Cause any child, this I love to tell kids, any kid that thinks we get it right the first time is very wrong.

We have to do it over, and over, and over again.

- If you like to doodle, you like to draw, give yourself permission to draw a really bad picture, one that's not very good, because no picture begins as a masterpiece.

A book like this, by the time it gets published, it first began with a very rough sketch that was polished and revised many times before it gets to that publishable piece.

- [Rosemary] I'll do a cover picture for a book cover nine times, and each one takes four or five hours.

Do I mind doing that, no, because each one is better.

And I try to convey this to children, to show them that revision is part of work.

- I think young people, especially now, because we get things so immediately, it doesn't come that way.

And we need to let kids know, don't be frustrated if you aren't there in a second.

You can get there in a few more, keep trying.

- If you have a passion for what you want to do, the main thing is just never ever give up.

- [Tom] A place like the Mazza is a great experience for kids to have.

They can go there, and see all this art on the wall, and it represents all these people all over the world, all over the country who've made a career making art.

It's not only that it's worthwhile, it's the range of that art.

Look at all the different styles that are represented at Mazza.

Too often, we're told that there's a certain right way to do things.

And by looking at picture books, and the work at Mazza, you see that there are thousands of ways to make a picture, and make art, and tell a story.

- All of that I think is important, number one, so that a child will know they are an artist.

The only difference between them and me, I sell my work to a publisher, they haven't yet, but their work is equally important, to understand that art is alive and in inside of them.

- I know that when I visit a school, or when I have a chance to talk to kids about the art that I make, I want to leave them feeling inspired to make their own stories, and to draw their own illustrations from their own imagination.

- I love being able to also go into elementary schools, and speak to children about my art, because I like to be able to reach that young creative kid who loves to doodle on the back of his math paper, but doesn't realize that they can turn that doodling into an entire career.

There weren't author visits in any of the schools that I had as a kid.

So to me, an author was someone who lived on the other side of the world, probably white, and not for someone like me.

And it even made me question even whether books were for me, because there weren't any people of color or people who looked like me in books.

But I want my young readers to know through seeing my example through my books, and through seeing me at the school, that you can become an author too, you can become an illustrator too.

I want kids to know that they can do it, just like I could do it.

- What would I tell a child who is just starting out drawing, and being an artist of some kind?

And that can mean that that child is a musician, or a singer, or a sculptor, or an actor.

- [Marc] I would say to every child that what you're doing is beautiful, unique, and important.

- What I would say to kids who have a talent like that, is that it has value, and you can make a living at it.

It might not be sitting in being a painter, and having your work put in a gallery, but there are so many other ways that the world needs creative people.

- [Don] If you enjoy writing a story, write every day, polish that talent, share your stories with your friends, or a teacher, or librarian.

And get used to the idea of revising, and revision, and polishing your work.

- To realize the power, and the need to express themselves, and most importantly, respect and value the process.

- Sometimes I've had kids look at some of the things that I do, and I will hear suggestions of how they would've done it.

Which I think is so wonderful, because that means they're taking it inside, and they're regrouping, and deciding what the importance of it is.

And two, it also gives them authority, to where they can write about and draw pictures of their family, their pets, things that they care about.

So I think that is so valuable.

- [Steven] So I think it's important for children to see that you can be an artist, and that artists are real people, and the art is just, it's just a thing, and here it is.

It doesn't happen by magic, it doesn't come from on-high.

It's a person who sits down, and makes this work of art that then has value, and can be shared with everyone.

- Here I am, I'm taking this paper.

I mean, it's nothing, it's a 2D object, really.

You can take that, and turn that into something that is magic.

I hope that they can see that within the work.

It's just paper, it's all it is.

And if it can inspire someone else to take whatever thing that they wanna do, and work, and work, and go through that process, and make something even better.

If there's one person that I can inspire to do their art, and to work on it, then I'm satisfied with everything that I've done.

- Work hard because your work matters, and because when you get good enough at it, you will touch the hearts of so many people.

And that is the most important thing.

If you work hard at it, you will discover the gift that you were given.

And maybe your gift is to be a teacher, or a scientist, and not an artist.

But if you find that your gift is to be an artist, then keep going, put in your 10,000 hours, and see where it leads you.

(upbeat instrumental music) - [Wendell] Well, I think children who visit Mazza Museum, it offers an opportunity for them to be inspired, and to look at their original art as magic for them, when they see it in books, it's a totally different thing.

But I think it also is an encouragement for them to persist.

And when they do programs with students and teachers, it's offering them an opportunity.

- [Benjamin] Some of the programs that we offer would be school tours.

We have two conferences every year for teachers and librarians.

Part of that conference is also geared for those looking to become writers and illustrators of picture books.

It's almost like a summer camp for kids, in the sense that people come back year after year to hear new artists and authors.

But more than that sometimes, is to see their friends that they have made along the way.

It's almost like a reunion.

We also have a young artist workshop for children in grades three through eighth, and it's really a unique week of sessions, where they create different works of art each day that are reflective of the works that these authors and illustrators are creating for their books.

And then at the end of the week, the kids come together, and all of their work is on display, and their parents walk around.

We started a new program with the occupational therapy department, where we took art from picture books, and used it with patients with dementia.

And allowing the picture books to bring back memories that they could recall.

And then together with the occupational therapy students, these patients illustrated images that meant a great deal to them back in their life.

And those works of art are now on display.

So we're always looking for ways to take art from picture books, and to make it fit in the world in which we're living in today.

(cheerful instrumental music) - [Don] I think one of the things for visitors, especially young visitors to Mazza, the museum itself, is the fact that, first of all, they will recognize some of the work.

They might have even had a artist visit them in their classroom, but the bridge is there, so they have of some understanding through experience the art that they're looking at.

So children connect through that, that's the beauty of it.

- Well, they encourage children to come there.

Educators, librarians, young students that are studying in university, I mean, their doors are just open, and they envelop anyone who wants to come in and imagine.

it is friendly, and it's available, and you're encouraged to touch and look.

- I get excited when we have visitors, and their reactions to the museum.

from people that have taught in the public schools, private schools, have been librarians, and they want to spend days and hours in here.

From that experience, to those that come in, and they have, really, truly no idea what this place is, and then are just taken by what all truly is involved in creating a picture book.

- [Marc] To me, it's an example of the power of sharing something you're passionate about with a child, and that's what teachers do when they come to the Mazza Museum.

They are sharing their passion with these children, and they're making an indelible impression on their lives about how important books and reading are to all of us.

- I wish that somehow every kid could be able to go there and see that, and walk through it, and look at those pictures that just at their height.

The kids that are able to visit are really lucky, I wish I had had that experience as a child.

- What drives me in my passion, in my daily work here at the museum, I would say is the people.

Being a part of this wonderful university is an honor.

Being able to work with over 200 volunteers on a regular basis, and them helping us to provide the many wonderful resources that we give to, really, people of all ages.

And to be a part of that team means a great deal to me.

It makes me honored and humbled to be a part of this place that has always had a family type atmosphere, and that's what we want to share with visitors that come through our doors on a daily basis.

(cheerful instrumental music) - [Patricia] In terms of potential for the Mazza Museum, they're doing so many things now that are new and exciting.

- What you're going to be seeing happening in the gallery.

I would describe it as more immersive.

We're gonna be making the transition from a very formal art gallery, where you walk through, and you see the pictures hung neatly on the wall, to something that might put you in the world of that particular narrative, or that author and illustrator.

The importance of the Mazza museum is the legacy, it's the story.

I cannot think of a more appropriate way to show an artist's work than to put our audience in their studio.

- In many of their processes, technology is very much a part of that equation.

30 years ago, artists were not using Photoshop, and Adobe, and different things of that nature to create these works of art.

- [Don] The iPad, my electronic tools, they are, they're just tools, and children adapt to those tools well.

Technology is expanding the way children learn.

- A lot of people who work digitally also work traditionally, they create pieces.

So they'll just do swashes of color, and texture, and shapes, and then they'll scan them all, and compose them in Photoshop for the digital illustration.

- We're interested in then taking that process, and sharing it with students of all ages here, so that they can be exposed, and can see what's involved, and use it in their school.

(uplifting instrumental music) - One, two, three.

(audience claps and cheers) - Acknowledging the fact that children's picture books are every child's first window to their world, the university and the museum's staff made the decision to expand and enhance that window by integrating its books and its art with the hard disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, something you'll hear a lot today.

In essence, moving from STEM to STEAM, the concept was not new.

However, the integration with the museum is truly a unique approach.

(all applaud) - Visitors to the Conda STEAM Center will better understand the thoughtful process that goes into creating picture books by intersecting science, technology, engineer, and math, with the arts to create meaningful stories and lessons about life.

This is your center, it's the community center, it's the state's center, it's the nation's center.

- I view the STEAM Center as an opportunity to actually walk through that window, and enter into the real world by blending the academics into a hands on learning lab that fosters creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.

- [Benjamin] A lot of these technical tools that these artists are using will be available in this new center.

These are technologies that these students don't have access to in their public, private schools, in their college for the most part.

There are STEAM centers all across the country, but the unique part of this is that it's reflective of the art found in picture books, so that's very exciting.

- Well, we see such excitement coming out of there.

- It's not about the building, it's about what happens inside of that building that's significant and important.

- So the role of Mazza in all of this is to present it, and all of its sort of levels and layers.

With that sort of magic, Mazza presents it as art in it's fullness, in it's richness, in its depth.

- And it's importance in the world of children's publishing is continuing to grow.

I mean, my life has been transformed because of picture books, and to be able to have experiences like that is pretty incredible.

- [Don] And it just makes me feel wonderful to know that my artwork is right there along with very famous, very important illustrators.

- What started as a collection that people used to debate whether or not it was actual artwork.

Illustration used to be... Well, specifically picture book illustration used to have kind of a stigma attached to it that it wasn't something worth holding onto and displaying.

Now that is no longer the case.

- Illustrators have a separate talent.

They know how to tell a story in pictures.

They know what to show, and what not to show, and that is a talent all in itself.

We need the arts because the arts touch the soul.

- Artistic talent is not a novelty, it's a real thing.

And the world needs those creative people, probably more than ever.

- I was always told that I'd never make it as an artist, and so having my work representing museums is a dream come true.

And it's nice to know that this work has a life in perpetuity, that's why we're all doing it.

Why do we do what we do, it's a way of making our mark in time.

- When you're a little kid, you don't realize somebody made that book.

There's a story behind that book, there's a story behind a person who made that art.

To see that artwork up close, and to experience, "Oh my God, look at the brushstrokes, or look at the."

That's an experience that takes it beyond the book.

I would like a young person to be able to go into the Mazza, and realize that they can do anything, and that this world is filled with magic.

- I think one's imagination is sacred, and needs to be cultivated, and encouraged, and that's what the Mazza does.

Kid will come in there, and they should walk out of there feeling like they're an artist.

And boy, world look out, 'cause here I come.

(uplifting instrumental music) (upbeat instrumental music)