Art Workshops & Theatre For Kids In Piedmont, Italy

There were not one but two events dedicated to children’s picture books last month in my backyard. Mondovi’s own Marco Somà was one of the main hosts at Illustrada (a play on words fusing illustration and street).

Marco Somà
Recent Andersen winner (Italy’s most prestigious and recognised monthly magazine promoting children’s books, academics and culture).
image from Illustrada

The neo Andersen prize winner, read from his recent book collaborations and gave drawing workshops. At the one we attended, children were made to draw funny fish on transparency paper with a fine black tratto pen, then with a humid paint brush, gently brush parts of the fish to create a bit of movement and finally finish off with markers.

workshop drawing fish with Marco Somà
from Illustrada’s fb page

Noemi Vola was another honorary host. We took home her Book of Horses which she read from that day. It has quickly become one of my daughter’s favourites. At the start of her reading, Noemi delightfully points out all the ways horses are used…at war, as rocking horses, at chess games, in the playground, to pull Cinderella’s carriage. She poses the question if and when it is ok to be disobedient. Kids look a little confused but answer, “well never”. She goes on in her book to illustrate indeed that’s not always the case as each page shows horses having abandoned their posts for freedom.

Noemi Vola and friends

images from Corraini publishers

The day before we were at Vivolibro (Living Book) put on by the Bottari Lattes Foundation. It’s a week long in depth celebration of a classic children’s book. This year the town of Monforte embellished scenography of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, first published in New York in 1943 then in Paris. There were episodes from this poetic book reinterpreted in interactive theatrical performances throughout the town. It was the perfect way to introduce not only children but adults alike to discover and rediscover again and again the little prince in all of us.

scenography in Monforte for VivoLibro
The Little Prince