ABC artist statement

My artist statement has been the most terrible dry bit of writing I think I've ever done...I've included it below, just for your amusement:

"Why are stories important to us, and why do we love to share our stories with our children? Stories offer a way to pass on knowledge, share humor, and learn lessons. The stories found in children’s picture books offer children a way to connect to an unfamiliar world, and the illustrations can inspire wonder in both parent and child. As an illustrator of children’s picture books, I share my own personal narratives with children in the hope that they will find something in my books and illustrations that is inspiring and worth remembering as they grow up. It’s a challenge to create stories that are worth remembering. A few years ago, if I were asked to define my art, I would have started by describing my style and medium. Now however, I know that the development of the story, the expression of the characters, and the emotion of the words are the defining characteristics of my illustrations. Those are the things that can make stories worth remembering. Story, character, and emotion define my art, and sharing my art with you and your children is my goal."

Someone told me during the last residency that it sounded like someone put a gun to my head and made me write this. Of course, I'm actually paying someone to force me to do this, so I thought I'd better try to improve this. Mary Mayer gave me the brilliant suggestion of using the ABCs as a format for my artist statement, using each letter to begin each sentence.

This is the result of that inspiration. I like it way better, but that's just me.

A is for Artist, and if I may,
this artist will tell a story today.
Before I was grown into what I am now,
I longed for a voice that could somehow
Communicate all that I wanted to say,
not failing, or falling, or fading away.
Did grownups know the secret to this?
Could they say what they mean? Did that exist?
Every day I would ponder, and wonder, and think,
but my hope for an answer was starting to shrink.
For the more that I learned my ABCs
the more I began to really see.
Grownups were asking us kids to rely
on words and symbols, and who could deny
How alluring and pretty they sat on the page,
all fancy and neat and pompously sage.
I went along with the game, I learned it well.
I could write, I could speak, I could even spell.
Jump forward now to this present day
when even though I have plenty to say,
Knowing and doing are two different things
and the failure of words is a failure that stings.

Loving books and the wisdom they hold
is a comfort, a friend, a treasure untold.
My love of books and the words throughout
are because my books were never without
Notable pictures that allowed me to see
what I couldn’t describe to any degree.
Only those pictures could bring me afar
and show me Where the Wild Things Are.
Pictures showed a bear of little brain
way before I could spell out his name.
Questing for monsters and pirates and treasure;
children’s books are gifts beyond measure
Rallying my wits, my talent, my paints,
I’m determined to remove any wordy restraints.
So stand aside, cause here I go!
Are you ready and listening? Well, if so…
This is the time to remember those years
of innocence, laughter, wonder, and tears.
Underneath your grown up exterior
lives a child with a mind far superior
Vying for attention, wanting to see, understand.
Don’t keep them waiting, let them see firsthand
Why words are important but how pictures can be
inspiring and wonderful, don’t you agree?
Xerox this moment and don’t be so bleak
Recall this story when your kids start to speak.
You’ll offer them books with love and with knowledge
But here’s a reminder you won’t want to acknowledge:
Zero, nada, nothing could possibly be
Filled with more contradictions than the ABCs.

I think it goes along better with my thesis, in which I talk about how words can fail us, but pictures are more easily understood and have a different kind of potential.