| Published July 31, 2005 Child-sized exhibit By LINDA
CONLEY The anatomy of writing a children's book from the basic ideas and sketches of characters to the storyline are on display at the Spartanburg County Museum of Art. Author Carol Goodwin and illustrator Thomas McDaniel, both from Rock Hill, are showing the work involved with creating the adventures of Twiggy Leaf and his animal friends. Their work is on display through August in the Hallway Gallery. The small exhibition is placed at eye-level for children, so they can see Twiggy Leaf and his friends. Goodwin created the book series several years ago after working in her family's business for 23 years. She wanted a career change and began thinking about some of her ideas for a children's book. She came up with the idea years earlier when her son was a youngster. She thought about writing some science books with her son featured as the title character, but she was too busy working in her family's business. Finally, she wrote her first children's book about three years ago. She has written several books about the adventures of the leaf and his pals. "The stories are wholesome literature with a little education, but not heavy handed with education," she said. "I wanted the books to be fun to read." McDaniel helps Goodwin to tie the stories together with the illustrations. The two have been friends since high school. "One can't happen without the other," Goodwin said. "Thomas makes the stories complete with the illustrations." McDaniel said the idea was to create a character that was easy to repeat. He said the stories focus on woodland characters like a squirrel, rabbit, ant and a butterfly. "The stories are sweet and simple," he said. "We wanted to keep them that way." The team has big dreams for the Twiggy Leaf series. They take the books to schools and read to students and sell them at festivals. Their hope is for a publishing company to become interested in the series. "I have big hopes for the series, but I work at my own pace," Goodwin said. "We will see what happens." Goodwin and McDaniel will hold a two-day workshop in September to help others get started in making their own books. The idea is to give tips to those interested in making keepsake family books. Pottery exhibit Another exhibition at the Arts Center is the showing of clay pottery in the Burwell Gallery. Furman University associate art professor Bob Chance is showing some of his pottery through Sept. 4. The showing contains almost 20 pieces of pottery. Chance said the inspiration for the pieces comes from items like, wine jars, jugs and round shapes. He saw some wine jars and serving vessels during a trip to Italy several years ago and continues to get inspiration from the trip. Scott Cunningham, exhibits coordinator at the Spartanburg County Museum of Art, said the pottery showing is an example of taking a craft and making it into art. He said the current exhibition of fabric art illustrates the same point about quilting. "This art originated from the traditional craft of making vessels to hold food," Cunningham said. "Bob takes it to another level by creating it into a work of art." Linda Conley can
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