Mr. M: The Exploring Dreamer

Mr. M

by K George, Kallie George

Soizick Meister has been painting the figure of Mr. M for many years. In this body of work continues her homage to the surrealists by placing this uncertain, exploring dreamer into contemplative and humorous situations within the British Columbia landscape. Mr. M represents the universal desire to come to know ourselves in the face of the enormity of the world. Mr. M is sometimes melancholy and uncertain, sometimes sentimental — we see memories of childhood made visible by Meister’s brush, revealing a duality of vision many of us share by reaching for our hopes while remembering a simpler past. Mr. M is acutely aware of the beauty of the world around him, both welcoming and sometimes overwhelming. A transplant from somewhere else, he is a traveler in both mind and space, pursuing the sometimes conflicting pleasures of exploration and the wish to put down roots. This book was created from a selection of Soizick Meister’s Mr. M paintings that seemed to tell a story of their own. Text incorporating idioms based on the artwork as well as arcane words ties the story together. Like Mr. M, such word usage is imbued with mystery. The intention is to encourage alternative readings of Mr. M’s journey and introduce the intrepid dreamer to an audience beyond the art gallery, allowing readers to imagine his journeys and adventures, his struggles and searches, for themselves. Students will be inspired to tell their own stories or poems based on the mystical images, and explore rare words to enrich their vocabulary.

Genres: Picture Books

54 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jeanette]

Beautiful illustrations that capture the brief text.

[Danielle]

Enchanting.

[Joy Wilson]

Absolutely enchanting. I look at her artwork before I go to sleep. The words chosen for each painting are so perfect! I love each page. And the hardback is very well bound. A daydreamer's delight.

[Michiko]

The author and illustrator weave together rich, complex and enigmatic story of Mr. M through the illustrations and the one accompanying sentence per page. The illustrations are amazing and promote curiosity and a feeling of searching. This book reminds me of Van Allsberg's work in that it is cryptic and mysterious. Or the Stonecutter by Jon J. Muth and John Kuramoto with each illustration accompanied by a single sentence together telling a rich story. It offers the opportunity for contemplation and imagination.

[Michael Motta]

A unique book for the coffee table or to be paid forward, passed along from friend to friend. It requires air and reuse after reading, not to be stuck between old books on a shelf.
The illustrations are top-notch, the captions pithy. It is self-help without being prescriptive, philosophy without being abstract, art without being inaccessible.

[Edward Sullivan]

An intriguing picture book with some SERIOUS vocabulary and beautiful illustrations.