In the Studio: Dina Bursztyn

The Land of Lost Things/El país de las cosas perdidas is just released by Pinata Books---we visited with Dina in her studio to hear more about her debut picture book which was named a Junior Library Guild Selection!

The first time I visited "the land of lost things" was in my childhood. In my family things frequently got lost. I have a childhood memory of looking for a missing blue pencil while drawing, not finding it, and making do with another color. Often I have wondered why that very particular memory has stayed with me, and I decided to draw it; as soon as I did, it called for another image, and then another, and before I realized it, I had a book.

The drawings in my book are created with gouache, pen and ink and collage. It was a fun challenge to render so many mittens and umbrellas. I became a hunter for paper scraps, bits of gift-wrap, origami and handmade papers, stationary and fabric.

Also, I used fragments of photos and ads from magazines, a part of a sky, a mountain, a rug, some fur.

I started writing children stories growing up in my native Argentina. I had to leave the country and came to New York. Being transplanted into a different culture wasn't easy, my English was poor and I felt words had "lost" their meaning. I began to work as a visual artist---creating ceramics, sculpture, drawing and painting. I often use my children's stories and illustrations working as a "teaching artist" in New York City public schools. I love to share stories with students, hoping to inspire them to make their own stories! "The Land of the Lost Things/ El país de las cosas perdidas" is one of those stories. What are things that you've lost and never found?

Argentine artist and arts educator Dina Bursztyn paints the way to where the lost things are in her fanciful new picture book, The Land of Lost Things / El país de las cosas perdidas! Dina is an artist whose sculptures, drawings and public art have been celebrated worldwide. Her work has been represented extensively in galleries, museums and public spaces around the globe, including in the Dominican Republic, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United States. This is her first book. To learn more about Dina Bursztyn, and see her upcoming events visit her website!