Also this issue: Kelly's Girl John Kelly is a man of many faces -- including Joni Mitchell’s. -David Warner Drawing Borders It's Mural Arts Month, and the Mural Arts Program is celebrating new growth and facing new controversy. -Ted Mann Nancy Crow at Snyderman Gallery Form and function collide in Nancy Crow's quilts. -Robin Rice Word From Your Mtter -David Warner Balanchine Favorites at Pennsylvania Ballet -Janet Anderson Crowns at McCarter Theatre -Toby Zinman Fully Committed at Philadelphia Theatre Co. -David Anthony Fox Eternal Spiral Project's I Stand Before You Naked -David Anthony Fox

October 24-30, 2002

artpicks

Stan and Jan's Plan

by Debra Auspitz

Bucks County authors/illustrators Stan and Jan Berenstain created a children's book empire and reigned for decades -- all after the couple, who met in art school, decided to write a book, in 1962, about a family of bears living in "bear country." The Berenstain Bears books have sold more than 250 million copies since, and served to teach a generation of youngsters about everything from family dynamics to theology to pregnancy (when Sister Bear prepared to arrive in 1974, we learned why Mama Bear's lap disappeared for a few months). The Berenstain Bears were based on Stan and Jan's family, though the couple actually has two sons. The younger, Mike, seems to have gotten over being cast as a pink-obsessed girl in the books -- he now works with his parents and will speak at the upcoming Michener Museum exhibit honoring his family's body of work. The Michener opens "The Berenstain Bears Celebrate: The Art of Stan and Jan Berenstain," the first retrospective of the couple's career, this weekend. The show features images from the books and examples of magazine and book illustrations that the Berenstains (human) used as inspiration for the Berenstains (bears) -- one major influence was then-Random House editor Theodor Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss. Programs accompanying the exhibit include a talk and book signing by Stan and Jan on Nov. 24, and son Mike's lecture "The Berenstain Family -- Bears or People?" looking into the parallels between his family and the beloved quartet of bears. In December, a West Chester University professor and the Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Carla Verderame, will take a scholarly look at the bears through her talk, "Children's Literature for Adults."

“The Berenstain Bears Celebrate: The Art of Stan and Jan Berenstain,” Oct. 26-Jan. 12, James A. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, 215-340-9800.