Meet the Phaidon Kids author - Ferren Gipson
This London-based curator, historian, artist, and educator is on a mission to turn kids on to contemporary and historical art – and not always through conventional means.
Ferren Gipson is a London-based art historian, writer, broadcaster, and artist dedicated to making art accessible to diverse audiences.
One of her aims is to inspire a new generation to engage with the visual arts. To that end she's authored several notable books aimed at young readers, including The Ultimate Art Museum, a comprehensive 'museum-in-a-book' that introduces children to over 40,000 years of art history through more than 300 artworks. She also collaborated on The Art Book for Children, a revised and expanded edition that presents 60 artists fostering curiosity and appreciation for the visual arts among children aged 7-12.
Gipson's also the creator and host of the Art Matters podcast, where she explores the intersection of art and popular culture. As a doctoral researcher at SOAS University of London, she focuses on modern Chinese art, particularly examining its political themes and connections to popular culture. Her academic pursuits also include amplifying the contributions of women artists.
Ferren Gipson photographed by Tim Boddy
Gipson has taught at institutions such as The Courtauld Institute of Art and has delivered guest lectures at the Royal Academy of Art and Sotheby's Institute of Art.
In her personal art practice, she explores themes of spirituality, materiality, and colour. She engages in quilting, a craft that connects her to the artists featured in her work and to her own familial heritage. Her textile work has been exhibited with galleries such as Hauser & Wirth and Unit London.
Gipson strives to bridge the gap between art history and contemporary audiences and so inspire a new generation to engage with the visual arts.
To celebrate 20 years of Phaidon Kids, we’re talking to a number of the illustrators and authors behind our brilliant children’s books. Once you've read our interview with Ferren, take a look in the Phaidon Kids store and check out more of her work at FerrenGipson.com.
What was your formative childhood experience? Can you remember when you walked into a museum and saw an artwork that just hit? I remember a visit to the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I think it was a painting of Queen Charlotte, maybe. That stands out in my mind. It's quite a good little museum.
But I think the moment when I realised art history was a thing was when I accidentally ended up taking an art history class in high school, basically because it was available in the slot I had free. I really liked history and thought this would be good, too. And it was so interesting. I didn't know at the time I was going to come back to it for my studies, but I really enjoyed it. I don't think I knew it was a subject before then.
The thing I've always been drawn to in art are the stories. I was really interested in the fact that these were real people, and the fact that the art was illustrating the history of people.
You’re responsible for The Art Book for Children and The Ultimate Art Museum. How did your approach to the two books differ? With The Ultimate Art Museum, we were considering different cultures across human history. There was a basic structure, we needed to get through a lot of things and work out how to tell a well-rounded story concerning all these different objects. Then, when you get to modern and contemporary works, some of them point backwards, so we had to make sure that there was this conversation happening across history.
I think with The Art Book for Children, we were thinking more about themes. For example: How can we talk about animal paintings or portraiture? How do we illustrate these concepts for a child who's coming into art for the first time with an artwork that looks interesting to a child's eye, and how do we have a good story to tell around it?
Both books are aimed at very different age groups. Were you already aware before your research of the things that each of those age groups might respond to? I think Maya (Gartner – Phaidon’s Associate Publisher, Children’s Books) is helpful for that. She comes in and will say, “I think a kid might want to see this thing.” Because when you love art as I do, you can tend to lean towards your own biases for whatever reason.
It’s funny because I've heard that kids, obviously, who are the target of The Ultimate Art Museum, enjoy it, but a lot of adults have also said they enjoy it, because they find it simple. I think everyone wants clear, simple, and engaging explanations.
But it's more about how would you say this to a child, rather than trying to put yourself in the headspace of a child. You don't want to talk down to kids. I think they can understand a lot when it is explained simply. Sometimes you selectively leave out some of the ways a painting can be interpreted for a child audience.
What were one or two of the artworks that could have been tricky to explain but that you were keen to include? There aren’t ones that are necessarily problematic, it's just sometimes you have limited space to talk about a big concept to a child audience. It's not that it’s controversial, more how do you explain this concept in this space to kids?
For example, someone like Robert S. Duncanson, in The Art Book for Children, whose work is interacting with, and talking about, slavery. And so, you're figuring out, “OK, how do I pack this into the space and explain it at [their] age level?”
You have a nine-year-old yourself, but do you have a reader in mind? No, I don't, but maybe I should. I'm really thinking about just explaining things clearly and simply. I do have a nine-year-old, so it’s helpful to know what they're talking about at school, or what they find interesting. Sometimes it's really challenging when you're dealing with some of the heavier themes to figure out how to pitch it at the right level.
The Art Book for Children has 30 more artworks in its new version. What was the criteria for picking them? I think the first thing in my mind was getting more women represented in the book, because I think there were only a handful originally.
So that, and then more different cultures represented as well, a bit more diversity in that way. Pretty much all the artists I added do that, but then also introducing different themes, making sure that you're talking about each artist in some way that creates a different theme.
In a screen age, do you feel a pressure that books like yours must be the gold standard of factual integrity? Obviously I'm researching and fact-checking as I go along, but there's also a team at Phaidon fact-checking everything. I tend to worry more about the legacy of what I'm putting together. For example: Which artists am I including and which stories am I centring? What angle am I taking on this work and who’s represented throughout this book?
That’s the thing that's on my mind the whole time. Because this is going to be a permanent book. You're leaving a very fixed legacy in this book of where you were at that time of writing it.
You have taught at School of African Studies and lectured at The Courtauld Institute – how has that played into didactic nature of the books? I haven't thought about the direct connection between teaching and the books. But I did look at a lot of art history curricula when I was putting together The Ultimate Art Museum I was thinking, “What are some things that really work in these curricula here?” I also looked at floor plans for real museums. There are so many ways you can tell art stories.
What does a working day look like for you? The starting point is what could be in the book. So, I’m looking at loads of images, then I start to narrow in on a list. I often joke, but I'm not joking, that I start everything with a spreadsheet.
And then on a day-to-day, I just dive in. A lot of times I'll start at the beginning. I think with The Ultimate Art Museum, I probably did start with prehistoric art and go pretty much in order. You start to get in a rhythm, writing from eight to five.
Are there certain artworks you’re passionate about that you try to squeeze in because you want to turn a kid onto them? I’m always thinking about diversity of cultures and getting women in, that's always front of mind. Pop culture references are probably the thing that I will try to slide in. For me, pop culture is a nice entry point to art for people who might feel intimidated by it. I used to have a podcast that was all about that. I would talk about music, references, or train posters, or witches – just all kinds of pop culture topics and themes.
My theory is that maybe you like art, but you can't understand it. However, you know you like The Simpsons, so OK, let's talk about it through that topic. Also, it reminds people that art is all around. It's not just in museums.
