Press Release Page

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

But Who Will Be The Cats? Book By Cynthia von Buhler

(Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copyright: Cynthia von Buhler, 2009.)
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jennifer Taber, jennifer.taber@hmhpub.com / 617-351-3671

Finally, the solution to Aesop’s age-old question: But who will bell the cats?

But Who Will Bell the Cats?
Cynthia von Buhler

Mouse and his friend Brown Bat are tired of watching the princess’s cats enjoy the life of luxury in the banquet hall of the castle, while they languish on crumbs and sleep in smelly socks.

They are determined to get out of the basement and join the fun and frolicking. But how to get past those spoiled cats who block their every effort?

It will take ingenuity, teamwork, and quite a bit of cunning for Mouse and Bat to succeed. If they can only figure out how to bell the cats . . .

Award-winning artist Cynthia von Buhler takes the reader on a whimsical journey in this visually stunning and innovative book. But Who Will Bell the Cats? (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; September 2009) is an enchanting tale of determination, bravery, and creativity—and beautifully illustrates the rewards of the uncomplicated power of kindness.

In addition to having written this story, Cynthia von Buhler was also the painter, sculptor, interior decorator, mason, gardener, and plumber of the sets. The rooms were built by hand from wood. The stone walls were formed from plaster. The floors are handmade from inlaid wood, mother-of-pearl, and plaster. The characters were painted in oils on gessoed paper, then cut out and placed in the sets. The scenes were photographed by Cynthia with a Nikon D300. You can view photos of the sets and see the creation of the book from the beginning stages by visiting the book’s blog, www.butwhowillbellthecats.blogspot.com, which Cynthia used to communicate with her editor and Web designer as she was creating the final product.

(Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copyright: Eric Antoniou, 2009.)
Cynthia von Buhler’s work has been compared to a trip down an ornate rabbit hole. Her award-winning art has been displayed in galleries and museums around the world, as well as in books, magazines, and newspapers. She lives in Staten Island and Connecticut with her husband, eight cats, one dog, seven doves, and an unknown number of mice below the floorboards. The MiniArtMuseum at The Nassau County Museum of Art in New York will be featuring the miniature sets and characters from But Who Will Bell the Cats? and The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside in a solo exhibition from September 20, 2009 through January 3, 2010. Visit nassaumuseum.org/teeridder. For the exhibit press release click HERE. You can visit Cynthia’s website at www.cynthiavonbuhler.com.

And be sure to visit the book’s website at www.butwhowillbellthecats.com
for crafts, games, a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of the book, downloadable posters, a lesson plan, and much more!

You can also follow our clever friend Mouse on twitter!
twitter.com/BellYourCat

But Who Will Bell the Cats? • September 2009 • Ages 3–7 • 32 pages • $16.00 • Hardcover •
ISBN-13/EAN: 978-0-618-99718-3

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Boston, Massachusetts • www.hmhbooks.com
Available wherever books are sold or by calling 1-800-225-3362

It’s an upstairs-downstairs scenario carried through in every way, the spreads frequently split in two horizontally to show the contrast. The typeface is appropriate to the location, heavy and bright in the Princess’s rooms, while thin and pale in the mouse’s quarters. The action is richly illustrated in profusely detailed multimedia collage, framed in ornate gilt, which again emphasizes the differences in the lifestyles of the characters. The upstairs scenes glow in lavish, bright gold tones, and the downstairs scenes are dark and gloomy. Young readers will pore over this one again and again". - Kirkus Reviews

This story of an indefatigable mouse should find a welcome place on the shelves of any castle...or library. - Horn Book

(This image is not low-res. Go HERE to view the press release for this book. 300 DPI jpegs download for press reproduction are also there.)
Also by Cynthia von Buhler
The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside
ISBN-10: 0-618-56314-8
$16.00
HIGH-RESOLUTION PRESS IMAGES from BUT WHO WILL BELL THE CAT?:

(Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copyright: Cynthia von Buhler, 2009.)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Enchanted World of Dollhouse Castle Created by Children’s Book Author and Illustrator Cynthia von Buhler

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For Immediate Release - July 4, 2009

NASSAU COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

Enchanted World of Dollhouse Castle Created by Children’s Book Author and Illustrator Cynthia von Buhler

In NCMA’s MiniArtMuseum for Children - September 20, 2009 through January 3, 2010

Come to the Party!
Book Signing and Exhibition Party on Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 2 pm
Free with Museum Admission, All Welcome

Nassau County Museum of Art’s (NCMA) MiniArtMuseum for Children takes on the fascination of a dollhouse castle with Cynthia von Buhler’s But Who Will Bell The Cats?, opening on September 7 and remaining on view through January 3. The exhibition is based on von Buhler’s new book of the same name which debuts in September. In But Who Will Bell The Cats? the famed author/illustrator creates an enchanted upstairs/downstairs world to show her viewers and readers the rewards of determination, bravery, and creativity—and remind them of the uncomplicated power of kindness.

Children and their families are invited to a party on Sunday, Oct 4 (at 2 pm) to celebrate the publication of the book and the opening of the exhibition. Von Buhler will be on hand to sign copies of her book (available for purchase at the museum book store). No reservations are needed for the party and there is no fee beyond museum admission. For further information about the book, log onto www.butwhowillbellthecats.com.

There will also be a Dollhouse Diorama and Paper Doll Workshop on Saturday, November 4, 2009, at 2 PM.
Come learn to how to make a dollhouse room from a shoe box. Cynthia von Buhler’s characters and castle rooms will be available as pre-printed full-color sheets for children to cut out and make into their own dollhouse diorama. Please bring a standard shoe box with you to the workshop. The author/illustrator will also be signing books which are for sale in the museum store. One lucky child at the event will win a handmade belled cat collar.
Fee: $10 per child includes all the supplies (except for the standard shoebox each child needs to bring), please R.S.V.P. to the museum by calling (516) 484-9337 X26, this event is limited to 25 children.

In addition to having written and illustrated the story, von Buhler was the painter, sculptor, interior decorator, mason, gardener, and plumber of the sets. The rooms were built by hand from wood. The stone walls were formed from plaster. The floors are handmade from inlaid wood, mother-of-pearl and plaster. The characters were painted in oils on gessoed paper, then cut out and placed in the sets.

(Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copyright: Cynthia von Buhler, 2009.)
Cynthia von Buhler’s work has been compared to a trip down an ornate rabbit hole. She is an internationally known and award-winning artist whose three-dimensional works have been displayed in galleries and museums around the world, and in books, magazines, and newspapers. She shares her home with her husband, eight cats, one dog, seven doves, and an unknown number of mice living below the floorboards. Her book, The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside, was the inspiration for a previous exhibition at the MiniArtMuseum. The book and its characters will be featured in the exhibition opening on September 20.

The MiniArtMuseum is open Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4:30 pm.

Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive (just off Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, two traffic lights west of Glen Cove Rd.) in Roslyn Harbor. Hours for the main museum building, the Arnold & Joan Saltzman Fine Art Building, are 11 am to 4:45 pm Tuesday through Sunday. Docent-led tours of the main gallery exhibitions are offered each day at 2 pm. On Sunday afternoons the museum offers supervised art activities for children and their families and family tours of the exhibitions. Exhibition tours and Family Sundays at the Museum are free with museum admission. Admission to the main building is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62+) and $4 for children; it includes admission to the MiniArtsMuseum for Children; The MiniArtMuseum is open 12-4:30 pm Tuesday through Sunday; admission to just the MiniArtMuseum is $5 adults, $4 seniors, students and children ages 4-12. Members are always admitted free. There is a $2 parking fee on weekends (members free). The Museum Shop in the main building and the gift shop in the MiniArtMuseum are open all museum hours.

Call (516) 484-9337 for current exhibitions, events, days/times and directions or log onto nassaumuseum.org.

Nassau County Museum of Art is chartered and accredited under the laws of New York State as a not-for-profit private educational institution and museum. It is operated by a privately elected board of trustees which is responsible for its governance. The museum is funded through income derived from admissions, parking, membership, special events and private and corporate donations as well as federal and state grants.

####6/2009

Media/Photo Contact: Doris Meadows, (516) 609-9696, dorismeadows@optonline.net
Public Information: Nassau County Museum of Art, (516) 484-9337, nassaumuseum.org

(Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copyright: Cynthia von Buhler, 2009.)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

4th Wall Gallery, Dallas Exhibit, May 2009

NOTED SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ART DEALER
BRINGS HIS PASSION AND HIS STABLE OF LOWBROW/POP CULTURE ARTISTS TO DALLAS

For Immediate Release

Dallas, TX—One of the most respected dealers of Lowbrow editorial and illustratrated art, Matthew Abramowitz, brings his renowned Los Angeles, Calif., establishments, The 4th Wall Gallery and The Gallery@Storyopolis, to Dallas.

Opening May 21st at 2925 Fairmount Street, The 4thWall Gallery brings its stable of popularly recognized artists from the Lowbrow movement (The underground visual art movement that began in LA in the late 1970’s and now is a widespread populist art movement that has been called pop surrealism.) to Dallas. The 4th Wall has been defined as “feeding one’s mind and soul through imaginative artists and is sure to tantalize and impress the minds of both the beginning and the experienced art collector.” With its unique and limited collection, The 4th Wall Gallery abolishes labels and celebrates artists breaking down the walls of conformity as home to an amazingly diverse group of world-renowned artists.

“We look forward to bringing to this vibrant City our one of kind pieces for families who seek to invest in collections they can share with their families for generations,” says Abramowitz. “The 4th Wall Gallery is the realization of a vision to make a home for art that pushes your mind’s eye. Kristine and I are proud to have Gallery Director, Jordan Roth as part of the 4th Wall team. He brings a unique understanding to both the local and global art scene.”

Three prominent artists will be featured in the opening exhibition: New York sculptor and painter CYNTHIA von BUHLER; New York and Miami painter MIGUEL PAREDES; and noted New York artist and illustrator SCOTT BAKAL. All three artists will be present for Gallery opening on May 21st.

CYNTHIA von BUHLER

Art & Antiques magazine, in March of 2006, named von Buhler “one of the top contemporary surrealists.” An internationally exhibiting visual artist, her work has been on the covers of New York’s Gallery Guide, Communication Arts, and New York Arts along with feature articles. Prior to moving to New York von Buhler was chosen by Boston Magazine as one of the “40 Bostonians We Love.” Von Buhler's work is in hundreds of personal collections all over the world; Howard Stern owns a portrait of himself painted by von Buhler, while Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone, purchased von Buhler’s portraits of Madonna and Jimi Hendrix. In February, 2007, von Buhler and her interactive sculptures, were featured on television in Japan, Switzerland, and Germany as part of the exhibit, ‘Andy Warhol: In His Wake.” Her award-winning illustrations have been recognized as being among “the best and most cutting-edge” in the country. Von Buhler is the author of the popular children’s “The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside,” published by Houghton Mifflin. In the Steven Spielberg celebrity-written benefit book Once Upon A Fairytale she illustrated a story by Martha Stewart. CVB Space, von Buhler’s art studio in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, has been featured in Sex and the City, Law & Order SVU, Someone Like You (starring Ashley Judd, Hugh Jackman, and Greg Kinnear) and No Reservations (starring Catherine Zeta-Jones).

MIGUEL PAREDES

Paredes is a product of the explosion of street culture in New York City as he attended the prestigious La Guardia High School of Music & Art-- hip hop, rap, break-dancing and graffiti-- which greatly influenced him, as did the work of contemporary artists Andy Warhol and Keith Haring and the earlier works of Picasso, Chagall, and Miro. As talented at the stove as at the drawing board, Paredes also is known for his culinary skills at such Miami hot spots Delano Hotel, China Grill, and the Booking Table. The 4th Wall opening features the largest collection of Paredes works shown to date and will focus on his new Los Ninos series. (We need to add something more here about Los Ninos)

SOCTT BAKAL

Scott Bakal has been showing in galleries and doing commercial work for the likes of Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The New Republic, Yoga Journal and Discover. Bakal’s work also can be found in private collections throughout the world and has recently been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of American Illustration in New York City. His illustration for Me +theDevil, which recounts the story of the short life of the revered Blues guitarist Robert Johnson, has received a total of 21 recognitions and two medals. Works from the Me +the Devil series will be featured at the Dallas opening. For this series, Bakal uses simple shapes and lines to build a part fact, part fictional little known world of Johnson into something tangible for the viewer. In both the color and black and white work, he creates glimpses of life and ghostly images of what could have happened all those years ago which helped create the legend of his life and death.

Abramowitz and his wife Kristine also bring to Dallas The Gallery @Storyopolis. Called “the capital of imagination where books feed the mind, art feeds the soul, events feed the imagination and stories come to life,” Storyopolis also will be at the Fairmount Street location and will have a grand opening in June. Its original illustrations from children’s books are said to lift the stories off the pages and onto the walls of children’s rooms…. or those of the nostalgic adult who never wants to grow up. The likes of Sara Ferguson, Julie Andrews, and Hayden Panettiere have done theatrical readings at the Gallery in Sherman Oaks.

“Brad Pitt, Denise Richards, Faith Hill, and Sharon Stone shop and marvel over our fabulous art unique to The Gallery@Storyopolis,” says, Kristine Abramowitz. “We are thrilled to bring our wonderful collection of original illustrations and art from famous children’s stories to Dallas where appreciation for the arts has energy unlike any other city.”

The 4th Wall Gallery is located at 2925 Fairmount Street, Dallas, TX 75201 and is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 am-6:00 pm; evenings by appointment; and Sundays 2:00-6:00 pm. For more information call 214/740-9400.

Media contact:
Martha Tiller
214/521-6677
mtiller@marthatiller.com

Below are a few high-res images for press download.
Purify

Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copywrite: Cynthia von Buhler, 2009
The Snake that Coils Within, Without

Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copywrite: Cynthia von Buhler, 2009
Grandfather (detail)

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Adam and Eve

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Sunday, April 1, 2007

The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside: Based on a True Story Image Downloads (Scroll down for the press release)

The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside by Cynthia von Buhler (Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copywrite: Cynthia von Buhler, 2007)

Author self-portrait doll, The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside by Cynthia von Buhler (Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copywrite: Cynthia von Buhler, 2007)

Installation Views

Installation view, The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside by Cynthia von Buhler (Click on the image for a 300 DPI jpeg download for press reproduction. Drag the larger image to your desktop to download. Image copywrite: Cynthia von Buhler, 2007)

Friday, January 19, 2007

The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside: Based on a True Story

September 10, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Karen Walsh, 617-351-3647, Houghton Mifflin, karen_walsh@hmco.com

The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside: Based on a True Story
Written and illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler

On a cold winter day a cat appears on the porch of an old Victorian house. The girl who lives there feels sorry for the snow-covered creature and gives him warm milk. The next day she gives him tuna, and the next day a catnip mouse, and so on and so on, until eventually the porch is as cozy as the house. One day, much to her surprise, the cat finally answers her invitation inside with an invitation to her. The “house-that-Jack-built” structure and repetition of this story will appeal to young readers, who will also delight in following the construction of the cat’s new home. This tale of friendship and trust, of patience and love, is based on a true story. While living in Boston, in a large purple Victorian house, von Buhler befriended a stray cat, whom she named Olympus after the Greek mountain. She repeatedly invited him inside, but he didn’t budge from the porch. So she went to the mountain, so to speak, and over the course of four years, fed him, nursed him, and built him his own (heated) purple and green house.

Creating the set for the book was a family affair—von Buhler’s father adapted her childhood dollhouse (which he had built by hand); her mother sewed the curtains, and her sister, a fashion designer, created the clothing. Von Buhler created all the characters using Sculpey clay. They were baked in an oven until hardened, then decorated with paint. She created a 3D set, and everything was then photographed with a Haselblad camera using a variety of lenses and colored gel filters, creating a fantastical world of cottony snow, comfortable chairs, and hidden delights.

Committed to reaching out to her audience in non-traditional ways, von Buhler has created an art exhibit based on the sculptures and sets used for the book that also incorporates a children’s cat sculpture workshop . The exhibit opens first at CVB Space in Manhattan on September 28th, and will then go on to tour children’s museums nationwide. For more information, please visit www.comeinsidekitty.com, which also includes step-by-step “make a kitty” instructions, a feature on how the house and set were created, an author’s blog, and more. Von Buhler is also currently producing a flash music animation, set to her original music (including her own vocals), which will feature the book’s characters and set. This animation, Come Inside Kitty can be viewed on YouTube.

Cynthia von Buhler is an internationally known and award-winning artist. Her artwork has been displayed in galleries and museums around the world, on CD covers, and in books, magazines, and newspapers. Four illustrations from the book have already been chosen to appear in the prestigious art book American Illustration in November 2006. The book was chosen as Teacher's Pick - Best Books of 2006 by Parent & Child magazine and a Winter 2006/2007 by Book Sense. They Called Her Molly Pitcher, written by Anne Rockwell and illustrated by von Buhler, was chosen as one of the New York Public Library’s Top 100 Picture Books of the Year.

Von Buhler has rescued and placed more than twenty-five cats into loving homes, and plans to donate a portion of her royalties from the sale of this book to City Critters, a New York City animal rescue organization. The book also contains valuable and practical information for those who find stray cats. City Critters has been at all of von Buhler’s New York City cat sculpture workshops and art openings and many animals have been adopted at these events. She currently lives in a castle on Staten Island, with a host of pets, including six doves, thirty goldfish, two rats, a small dog (adopted recently from City Critters), her husband, Russell, and, of course, seven cats.

The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside is a loving tribute to feline companionship, sure to warm human and kitty hearts, because cat company is worth waiting for. Available wherever books are sold or by contacting Houghton Mifflin Customer Service at 1-800-225-3362.

September 2006, Picture Book
Ages 2–5
PreK–K
40 pages
$16.00
ISBN 10 0-618-56314-8
ISBN 13/EAN 978-0-618-56314-2