Oh Nikki, you're so fine, you're so fine, you blow our minds (hey Nikki...). We've sung the praises before (but not as well as Toni Basil) of Nikki McClure's The First 1000 days memory book and now we'd like to follow up with accolades for her other children's books.
McClure's medium is paper cutting and she accomplishes this detailed, focused work beautifully. The board book Awake to Nap was created while her son, Finn, was himeslf napping. A colorful alphabet book (ending at N as the baby falls asleep), Awake to Nap will be a requested again and again.
Nikki McClure has been making paper cut illustrations for over a decade and her books are truly works of art. Here's how she describes her process: "I make my pictures by cutting away at black paper with a knife. The paper becomes lacelike and everything connected. What remains is a paper-cut, just black and white. Color and text are added later. My words are letter-pressed or cut out by hand."
Another favorite is The Great Chicken Escape, a longer tale with the same attention to detail and whimsy. "The Great Chicken Escape is a true story, or as close to truth as I could ascertain from the chickens themselves, " writes Nikki.
Find all of Nikki's books and notecards as well as her new 2008 wall calendar at BuyOlympia.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
