Elisa Kleven: From Scraps to Magic

by Patricia M. Newman
Orginally published in AppleSeeds in May 2002
Illustrations from The Lion and the Little Red Bird, by Elisa Kleven (Dutton, 1992)

As a girl, Elisa Kleven emptied her closet shelves and created a dollhouse for toy creatures of every species. Postage stamps became portraits; bottle caps became pie pans; walnut shells became cradles. She also invented stories about the tiny creatures inhabiting her miniature world. “The desire to play and imagine and act out stories has always been a part of me,” she says.

Now, Kleven creates worlds inside books, laboring to make her characters and settings come alive. Tissue paper feathers a nest. Yarn becomes a lion’s tail; lambswool, his mane. Bits of doilies become snowstorms. No scrap is too small for Kleven’s colorful, busy collages. Glue, scissors, and classroom art supplies are her tools. Collages give Kleven the freedom to experiment and rearrange, which reminds her of the way she played with her miniature house.

“I hope children will recognize in my artwork their own wonderful impulses to imagine and play.”

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