The World of Jan Brett: Virtual Tour and Storytime for Kids & Families

Join a museum educator for a virtual tour via Zoom of the special exhibition, The World of Jan Brett, as well as an interactive, live reading of one of Jan Brett’s popular story books. This fun and educational traveling exhibit invites visitors to step into the stories of admired children’s author/illustrator Jan Brett. The exhibit features 70 original paintings from thirteen of Jan Brett’s bestselling books, showcasing the intricate brushstrokes and great detail that goes into each illustration.

This virtual tour & live storytime session lasts approximately 20-25 minutes and is oiffered via Zoom. An internet connection is required to participate. Registration is free with a suggested donation of $10.

The World of Jan Brett is on view at Fenimore Art Museum through May 16, 2021.

About Jan Brett

With over forty one million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation’s foremost author illustrators of children’s books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, “I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I’m drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real.”

As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. “It was overwhelming to see the room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain,” she says. “I’m delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting.”

Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. “From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children’s books.”