Thomas Locker in pursuit of nature

Teaching Pre K-8, Mar 2001 by Romano, Katherine

Through his stunning illustrations, this author aims to guide his readers in recognizing and rediscovering the beauty of our natural world

It was a rain-slicked Tuesday in September when our destination was a small coffeehouse in Litchfield, CT for an afternoon conversation with children's author and illustrator, Thomas Locker. A former full-time landscape artist and college professor, Thomas has displayed his paintings in over 60 one-man shows in London, New York, Chicago and other major cities.

Nature in the foreground. Thomas first entertained the idea of switching gears to writing and illustrating children's books at the suggestion of one of his former students, children's book author, Marianna Mayer. "So that's how Where the River Begins (Penguin, 1984) was born," he remembered. "And Marianna, who was my student, became my teacher and taught me how to construct a picture book." As Thomas became more involved with writing and illustrating his own books (to date he has over 25 to his credit), his passion for landscape painting once again took over and nature became the foreground in his pictures and the people he painted became the elements in nature.

Visual memory. One aspect that is immediately striking about any of Thomas' illustrations is his remarkably realistic use of color, in both his human and natural subjects. He attributes this to the teachings of his first art mentor, a painter named Romano Glistenstein. "When I was a little boy, I was nearly autistic," he told us. "I didn't speak very much but I drew all the time. Glistenstein was going through my school and saw my work up on the wall and said, 'I must have that boy.' " As Glistenstein's apprentice at the tender age of six, Thomas learned early on about becoming constantly aware of the world around him and developing his sense of color. "Every time that I'd get to the studio walking from my school, the first thing Glistenstein would say to me was, `What color were the window shades over the meat market on 44th and Second Avenue?' "Thomas commented. "And I'd have to be able to shut my eyes and see it. From a very early age I developed a visual memory. I call upon it whenever I use my palette."

Thoughts of home. Thomas has also broadened his artistic perspective of nature to include his deep fondness for the surrounding environment in which he paints. Of his home across the river from the Catskill Mountains of New York he said, "This is the place where America discovered nature. This is where Rip Van Winkle walked. It's a dream world." He further expounded on the bond that's created where one chooses to call "home" in his book, Home: A Journey through America (Harcourt Brace, 1998). Thomas brilliantly used the reflections of poets and authors writing about the places where they were born or had lived as an inspirational basis for all of the book's illustrations. Recently, he put the spotlight on his own home (which he calls, "My favorite subject") in his book, In Blue Mountains (Bell Pond, 2000). "Deep in American consciousness lies a memory of the place where the American vision of nature began," reads the first sentence of Thomas' foreword to this book. In Blue Mountains brings the reader to a peaceful gorge in the Hudson River Valley called Kaaterskill Clove which is often referred to, according to the foreword, as "America's first wilderness." It tells the story of an artist who sets out to explore the wilderness and discovers a new way of looking at and understanding the world around him. "A picture book is an incredible art form," Thomas mused. "It's marvelous because as you compress clearer verbal moments, the visual moments can expand and be worth 10,000 words."

Science and art. Fervently dedicated to awakening his readers' senses to the wonder of nature, Thomas took an interesting turn toward bridging the gap between science and art. With his book, Water Dance (Harcourt Brace, 1997), he began a longstanding collaboration with science teacher and acclaimed children's author, Candace Christiansen (she also provided all of the research for the poems featured in Home). Accompanying the poetry of the text and the beautiful illustrations of Water Dance, are hundreds of fascinating scientific facts about water. For instance, did you know that the amount of water that has been on the earth has been the same for hundreds of millions of years? Only tiny amounts of new water are formed from the actions of volcanoes and lightning.

The outstanding success of this book brought about subsequent "Dance" books, Cloud Dance (also from Harcourt) was released this past fall and Mountain Dance should appear sometime this year. Thomas and Candace Christiansen recently pooled their expertise yet again with the release of their portfolio based on Thomas' book, The Sky Tree. A Teacher's Guide was specially designed for this version of The Sky Tree to further extend the learning experience of teachers and students alike. The curriculum included with the portfolio explores the environment both from the side of the artist (discussing color, shape and mood) and the side of the scientist (discussing seasonal tree variations, weather and ecosystems). "I'm passionately involved in how I can reach young people, especially in the classroom," Thomas said.