Not too long ago I told you about an awesome book by Steve Ouch called SteamPotVille. Did you check it out? It has amazing imagery in it. Well, on top of that, I had the chance to ask Steve some questions about his book. Here’s what he had to say:
What is the significance of the name SteamPotVille?
As a child I spend a great deal of time on my Grandparents farm on the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone river. These rivers are wild rivers and flood often. I remember finding a old rusted cowboy coffee pot on the ground in the middle of nowhere. When I ask my grandfather about it he said it was a SteamPot that must of got caught in the flood. The name stuck with me. Many of the titles I have for the next books come from childhood memories.
Where did you come up with the concept for the book? What motivated you to write it?
SteamPotVille is an imagination that comes from my childhood in the upper plains near North Dakota. There hours away from any major metropolitan area I was forced to devise games and worlds to have fun. This became my nature so today creating concepts natural to me. The concept for this book was in honor of my youth homeland.
Tell us more about the artwork. It’s very unique and fantastical.
I use photomontage as my medium a more specific level of collage. Each image takes about 150 hours to create. During the last three months of the creation of this book I was able to spend 15 hours a day working on the images. This allowed me to do almost a week of work in two days. Through that process I was able to watch my work come to life quickly.
What books did you love the most as a child?
Dr. Seuss and my grandma’s anthology magazines.
Do you have any children’s authors that you really loved growing up? Any that you still love?
Dr. Seuss was an amazing author and artist. I admire his work on all levels. When I got older I was able to find that his material spanned all ages. I am grateful for his influence and I consider him a friend in my heart even though I will never meet him.
On your blog, you write that you have a whole list of books that you want to write. Care to share any upcoming projects with us?
I never like to let the cat out of the bag until I’m closer to completion. At the moment though I am working on marketing SteamPotVille since I am an independent publisher which is a pretty big project.
What do you hope kids takeaway from reading or being read your books?
I just want kids to have fun and use their imaginations. The magical miracle of life shouldn’t end when you grow up. I just talked to a preschool teacher that told me it is exhausting to have to pretend all day long. I feel like it should be just the opposite. So I hope this book helps strenghten the imagination of children and additionally I hope it help adults to remember how fun the imagination can be.
For those of us with children who cannot read on their own yet, how do you recommend we read the books to our kids?
I like to point out how silly some things are in the book. That gets the kids all excited. Generally, it gets their imagination going to, so prepare to pretend. If you want to see my reading of the book you can see it on you tube. http://steveouch.com/?p=211
Who are the perfect recipients of this book?
Children up to 80 years old.
Anything else you want to share with us?
I am grateful directly to moms in general. Whenever I have an audience of them I like to say: “Without you none of this would be here. I promise to support you the best I can and be a friend as you read with your children.”
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This is a wonderful interview with a very interesting writer. So many of us – myself included – loved Dr Seuss while growing up, but not that many of us grew up to emulate him.
Wonderful feature and beautiful book.