Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – From sketching brains at the Mayo Clinic to illustrating former Presque Isle High School teacher Janet Allen’s book, “The Best Little Wingman,” Jim Postier has had a colorful career.
“I liked to draw as a kid. There were no real life goals; it was just something I did for fun,” Postier said. “When I was just out of high school, I discovered that at the Mayo Clinic they had some professional medical illustrators, and their job was to illustrate surgeries and anatomy of the human body. I thought it would be a neat occupation, so I went to college and luckily got a job there.”
Postier, who resides in Kasson, Minn., recently visited SAD 1 students to give them some artistic pointers, and even had the opportunity to work with the seventh-graders he had actually met with as fifth-graders two years ago.
“The visits like today are a lot of fun,” he said. “I’ve been coming up for a couple of years now. I first came up for Janet’s [Allen] book release party. The publisher asked if I’d do a complimentary visit to the school, so I went to the Mapleton Elementary School. I spent a day with kids from all grades, and it just blossomed.
“Since then, I’ve done more visits to other schools and gained more experience interacting with kids,” said Postier. “This was my fourth visit. The Maine visits are very unique because I have the kids for a good part of the day, and usually it’s fifth-graders. Usually when I visit a school around the Minnesota area, I have the entire school, and have 50 to 55-minute sessions of big groups and then you’re done. With SAD 1, I get to spend a lot of time with one grade. This is the most special visit I get to make every year because of the way it’s organized.”
Though Postier was at the Mayo Clinic for seven years, he said he got the itch to do something different.
“Even though I liked what I did there,” he said, “I thought it would be fun to do a children’s book. Anatomy textbooks aren’t things people hang on the wall. A children’s book is something that people could enjoy, and I knew it would be a challenge.”
His first children’s book was “Goose Moon,” by Carolyn Arden, which was described by the School Library Journal as “luminous watercolors subtly suggesting the chill of winter and the comfortable warmth of home.”
After finishing Allen’s book, Postier illustrated Carole Crowe’s book, “Turtle Girl,” and is now turning his attention toward another project.
“There was a book illustrated by Eric Carle in 1983 called ‘The Mountain That Loved a Bird.’ I’ve become friends with the author, Alice McLerran, and she’s always wanted to make a new version of it with a different style of art,” he said, noting that illustrating a book can take anywhere from six months to a year and-a-half. “What’s what I’m working on now.
“One of the things I want to work on after the ‘Mountain’ book is a drawing book for kids,” said Postier, “… To try to put together some of these things that I’ve been doing over the years into a little paperback book that might inspire kids.”
Postier said he truly enjoys the workshops with students.
“While people have different degrees of talent,” he said, “I’ve found that you can teach kids how to do a really good drawing. There are rules that you can teach to people, and it’s really not trying to see more detail; it’s trying to see less detail and to make things simple. I think I’m getting better helping people see what other people have taught me, and I don’t find a lot of people doing that with kids.
“When I was the students’ age, I drew like they did and I wasn’t the class artist,” said Postier. “I like to show them where I came from and that you can learn and develop your skills. I also like to promote painting and drawing as a hobby; not just something you do to have in a gallery or for a job. Art is a lot better than some of the video games on the market these days. I’d like to see more kids spending more time sketching. That’s why I enjoy going to schools to share that idea.”
The students benefited from Postier’s visit just as much as he did.
“It was really fun,” said seventh-grader Emma Parady. “He showed us step by step what to do and taught us things about shading, smudging the colors, and doing shadows.
“Usually if I were to draw a cat, I would draw a circle, two little circle eyes, a circle nose, a mouth, and two triangles for ears. He helped show us how to draw a more lifelike cat,” she said. “I like to draw, and after his presentation, it really made me more interested in art.”
Student Cory Theriault agreed.
“I learned that when you draw a head, sketch it lightly because you might need to erase it,” he said. “The slide presentation he showed us was cool. He showed slides of previous drawings he’s done and paintings, and some of the books he has illustrated. It was pretty fun.”
“My goal is to try to get the kids to be happy with what they have,” said Postier. “I want them to come away with a drawing that’s a little better than what they could have done the day before.”
Postier’s work can be viewed online at www.jimsartplace.com.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
ILLUSTRATOR JIM POSTIER shows seventh-graders at Presque Isle Middle School how to draw a cat during a recent workshop at the school. A resident of Kasson, Minn., Postier has been visiting the Star City for the last few years thanks to his professional relationship with former Presque Isle High School teacher Janet Allen. Postier illustrated Allen’s book, “The Best Little Wingman.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
LACY DIMICK gets her cat drawing autographed by illustrator Jim Postier who made an appearance recently at Presque Isle Middle School.
