Helen Borten III

 

Helen Borten's 'Copy Cat', originally published in1962, and republished in 2016 by Flying Eye Books. Helen was born in Philadephia, PA in 1930. She attended the Philadephia Museum College of Art for four years. She is a free lance artist and illustrator of 12 children's books, 'Copy Cat' was her sixth, She lives in New York City. 

Copy Cat tells the story of Algernon Longwhisker the Third, a dissatisfied cat who tries to live up to his illustrious forebears by imitating every other animal on the farm. After failing to make a good rooster,  sheep, squirrel, bird, or tree, Copycat that to be loved, he just has to be himself.

Helen Borten II

The Jungle, a beautifully printed book by Helen Borten, 'The Jungle' was inspired by a trip to Guatemala in 1967. Originally published in 1969 it was re-published in 2018 by Enchanted Lion. Born in Philadelphia in 1930, Helen Borten attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and produced the main body of her children's picture books in the 1960s receiving high praise, awards, and much love.

Helen Borten I

Helen Borten 'Do You See What I see?' published in 1959. This beautiful book has bold mid-century style images, mono-printed in vivid colours with black over the top and is very geometric in its designs. In it Helen discusses lines, shapes, colours, and how they can vary, what they remind us of, and the moods they evoke.

“The entire series was done in a technique called monotype: a single print method in which I painted in oil on glass and took a transfer print. At the time, it was necessary to create a separate print for each colour—a rather grueling process! I was inspired by a children’s book done in woodcuts by a respected figure in fine art, Antonio Frasconi, his only children’s book, I believe. To get around the limitations of the four-color process—as opposed to full-color reproduction—I invented a method of overlapping and tinting colors so as to approximate or mimic a full palette.” Helen Borten 

Helen Borten was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1930, she attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and started getting her children's books published in the late 1950's and 1960's winning much acclaim and many awards.
In the 1980's her focus shifted to radio where she became an acclaimed and award winning radio producer creating documentaries.

“My own documentary series, A Sense of Place, absorbed all my energies. I traveled the country interviewing people and discovering fascinating corners of life, then edited, scripted, narrated, and produced the programs which were distributed nationally and spanned three seasons—43 documentaries in all!” Helen Borten 

'Do You See What I See' was re-published by Flying Eye Books in 2016.