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I am so proud and thrilled for my friend Cookie–aka Marisabina Russo–whose latest book was just featured in the NY Times Book Review on Sunday. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Cookie and I go way back–to Camp Chinqueka in the 50′s–but it was at our adjacent easels in the Art Department of Mount Holyoke College where her talent began to shine.
I predict that Cookie will be one of those overnight sensations who has put in 30 years of perseverance, hard work and maturation of talent behind the scenes. Getting written up in the New York Times is a BIG DEAL.
Her new book is called I Will Come Back For You and received high praise from the journalist whose article reviewed three biographical picture books portraying children living through challenging circumstances. This is what she said:
“I Will Come Back for You,” by Marisabina Russo (“A Very Big Bunny”), is the most exciting of the three books…
Cookie told me that her amazon.com numbers were already showing a rise after the piece appeared on Sunday. There’s nothing like that third party endorsement, especially when it comes from the New York Times.
Congratulations, Marisabina!
Cookie - Then
The most important thing on my calendar today is meeting my oldest (I’ve known her the longest, that is) friend Cookie for lunch. That supersedes my meeting with my accountant and two phone appointments which will bookend our time together.
We live about an hour apart, so our quarterly lunch dates are cherished oases on my calendar. I’ll use the excuse of meeting Cookie in the charming town of New Canaan to incorporate last minute holiday shopping for a grab bag gift as well as hostess presents.
Cookie (Marisabina, professionally) was on my mind because of our date today, but also because I received an email from her this morning letting me know she’d had her first blog ever today. I hungrily read through it and believe you’ll enjoy reading her success story as well. She’s the quintessential lifestyle entrepreneur–an award-winning author and illustrator of children’s books for over 25 years while raising her three children.
Below is Cookie at her 60th birthday party (5/1/10) flanked by me and several other Artsy Girls who all look as young and vibrant as Cookie.
Pierce Ball Gallery hosted the Second Annual Artsy Girls Show – A Common Thread with an opening on Saturday that drew a steady stream of patrons plus a slew of Artsy Girls. I’m sitting on a bench in this jewel of a gallery space along with Naiad Einsel, illustrator, Meredith Gray, fashion stylist, and Laurie Klein, photographer.
We’re seated below gouache illustrations from Marisabina Russo’s children’s book Always Remember Me and a collage by Leslie Mueller.
The exhibit features original art in a variety of media from a couple of dozen of our members, including yours truly. Liz mounted my decorated eggs and jewelry in a way I wished I had back in the day.
I was touched to see a photograph from our youngest Artsy Girls member, Nicole, who has been an apprentice with Laurie Klein for several years. Below is an image of Nicole visiting the exhibit with her family.
Liz Ball curated the show, hosted it, created all of the press around it and also exhibited her extraordinary photographs. The Artsy Girls owe her a debt of gratitude for putting us on the map in such an elegant manner.
My dear friend, Cookie (aka Marisabina Russo) turned the big 6-0 last month. At a gala surprise party organized by her devoted husband Whitney, about that many friends gathered including several Artsy Girls pictured here.
To personally celebrate Cookie, I invited her to come to Kripalu with me, a first time visit for this good friend. We were in the Berkshires for a couple of days on their R&R program, hiking, doing yoga, resting and renewing.
In addition to the wonderful activities this yoga center provides, there are exceptional evening workshops too. While Cookie got her massage one of the evenings we were there, I attended a session entitled Power of Word presented by Danny Arguetty. Understandably, he talked about how much more there is to expression than simply the words that we use. In one exercise he rated emotions on a scale–the highest levels being joy, empowerment, love, appreciation and freedom; the lowest – fear, grief, despair and powerlessness. He pointed out that having the vocabulary helps us access where we are on the scale and allows us to articulate our way up from, say, boredom to hopefulness once we see the continuum of the emotional scale.
I wrote down two things Danny said. One was about how so many of us are around tough topics. He made a gesture with one hand as though lifting something off the floor and said, “Hello, Little Rug.” Then he gestured with the other hand–a brushing kind of motion and said, “Sweep! Sweep!” The point being how often we sweep things under the proverbial rug, only to have them then go down the emotional scale because feelings can’t be ignored. They will have their way!
The other saying I jotted down was a quote from the Swami Kripalu who asked, “Is what you have to say an improvement on silence?” I’ve heard, “think before you speak” but this took it to a whole new level.
Friday morning Cookie and I walked the labyrinth on the grounds of this gorgeous property. Then lunch and departure. We got someone to take a shot of us before we left–two busy entrepreneurs taking two days together to celebrate a life passage.
Roz Chast spoke at Bedford Middle School in Westport last night describing her arrival there after going the wrong way on Long Lost Road, as she hilariously renamed Long Lots Road.
My friend Cookie and I attended together as we are both fans and slight acquaintances of Roz’s. Cookie (aka Marisabina Russo) and Roz found each other in the waiting room at the New Yorker magazine offices many years ago. Roz once came to my house for an egg decorating lesson. She has completely mastered the skill (witness her exhibit at the Westport Arts Center currently), and I’m tickled to know she loves pysanky as much as I.
She gave an illustrated talk of her cartoons and held a book signing afterwards. At the end of her slide presentation (sorry for the darkened image), she accepted questions from the audience. Her response to the question, “Is it hard to get rejected?” was something familiar and assuring. Roz described how she would send several cartoons a week to the New Yorker along with her colleagues who were also competing for selection. She estimated that the cartoon editor must have received upwards of 400 cartoon submissions a week and maybe selected 20. She knew she would get rejected. “It’s just what I do,” she said. “Rejection is part of the process.”
I loved how matter-of-fact her answer was. Yes, there’s the rejection. Next question.
Cookie Russo (left) and I met at Camp Chinqueka as young girls–eight and ten. We were drawn to each other back then and re-united when Cookie found me at Mount Holyoke College where she entered a year after me. Our friendship re-ignited living in the same dorm and choosing the same major–Studio Art. So, I’ve known Cookie longer and better than any other friend, which I cherish.
Not surprisingly, Cookie (or Marisabina as she’s known professionally) created a successful business out of her art background. She has become a very successful author/illustrator of children’s books. At lunch on Saturday she gifted me with a hot-off-the-press copy of A Very Big Bunny and told me how she got inspired for this most recent publication.
When donating her time for an unrelated community art project Cookie meticulously painted the first two sections of her entry. Then, noting the time, quickly finished it off with a flourish, but little concentration. That last piece, so fluidly done, was the bunny’s face. It caught the eye of an editor who fell in love with its simplicity and became completely captivated. A Very Big Bunny was born out of that gesture made without planning or expectation.
I love this story! How many times do we labor over an apostrophe or comma only to then dash off a paragraph that effortlessly captures our essence and communicates it to the world? I’m a huge believer in doing what you love and letting go of the results. Cookie couldn’t have planned this better than it came out. She was doing what she was born to do, worked really hard at contributing a piece of her talent, let go at the end and achieved a greater success than she could have dreamt up.
My good friend Cookie sent me an article clipped from the NYTimes. It was from the obituary column–the ones written by family and friends to honor the deceased, not one of the separate articles written by the Times as a tribute to the luminary.
Her note said, “On Saturday evening as Whitney [her husband] and I were on the train to the city, he was reading The Times and came across this. He tore it out and gave it to me to read. ‘What does this remind you of?’ he asked. ‘Artsy Girls!’ And then Whitney said I should send it to you.”
After reading it I had goosebumps and a full heart. The tribute was from The Wednesday Ten and said:
It was over 50 years ago that Bill got the idea of bringing together a group of young men who had come to New York to build their careers. The “rules” were simple: we would meet once a month; …we would tell one another about our work and our lives; we would teach one another about the world as we saw it and the opportunities it presented. From that humble beginning sprang a group who continued to meet together…right up to today. It bred lifelong friendships, much learning of the ways of the world and produced a host of successful people.
Cookie (aka Marisabina Russo- pictured left with two of her illustrations at the exhibit) and I had spent the better part of last Friday afternoon at Liz Ball’s Pierce Ball Gallery on the first day of A Common Thread, the exhibit featuring work from 26 of the 50+ Artsy Girls. I formed this group nine and a half years ago with less of a lofty intention than William Safire’s. I just wanted my creative friends to all meet one another and to bask in the glow of their reflected achievements. But over the years as we have continued to gather and now exhibit, the impact of this talented collection of women is inspiring. To be mentioned in the same breath as William Safire is humbling.
Our show attracted terrific press. There was a beautifully written article in The Hour the day before the exhibit started. Then, while several of us Artsy Girls (pictured above) were at the exhibit, the Norwalk Citizen was delivered with our show as the headline news on the front page! It was like receiving a rave review for a Broadway opening–the ‘cast’ assembled to celebrate the moment of recognition.
I told everyone there that I was having an out of body experience. I was so filled up by the excitement of the moment that my mind was rushing way ahead. “I’m already casting the movie,” I told them. I want Natalie Portman to play the younger version of me. Sigourney Weaver can fill the role of the mature Jane. Any other suggestions?!
