Rick Lieder Photo Exhibition & Helen Frost Book Launch

Book Beat will host a book launch and photography exhibition at the Book Beat gallery on Saturday, March 17th from 6-8 PM with local  photographer Rick Lieder and author Helen Frost. Photos shown will be from their newly published book,  Step Gently Out. The exhibition will continue through Sunday, April 1st, 2012.  Step Gently Out is a book for all ages featuring poems about insects and nature along with stunning full-color close-up photographs from the world of insects.  For more information contact Book Beat at 248-968-1190.

On Sunday, March 18th, both author and photographer will take part in  Read in the Park, from 1 to 3 pm, in the Collaborative Center at Berkley High School. (2325 Catalpa, at 11 1/2 mile, East of Coolidge, facing Catalpa.)

The photo exhibition at Book Beat will consist of images mainly from the book Step Gently Out. In tightly composed close-up artistry, Lieder delicately captures the amazing hidden world of insect life. Known for his many photographically illustrated book jackets and his books Arial Acrobats, and Mantis! this is the first publication to feature a wide range of Lieder’s micro-insect photography, a truly magical book for all ages.  Visit the artist’s website at Bug Dreams.com or Lost Mirror to learn more. Rick’s conceptual art and dust jacket photography can be seen at: Dreampool.com.

Visit Helen Frost’s website here to learn more about this award winning author.

Reviews for Step Gently Out:

“Breathtaking photos and an exquisite poem capture a bug’s-eye view of nature… One can only hope the present collaboration will be the first of many between nature photographer Lieder and Frost (Hidden, 2011, etc.), one of the most gifted, versatile children’s poets writing today, for the synthesis of word and image in this short picture book is so finely wed that the final page turn leaves one begging for more.”  -Kirkus, starred review

“Lieder captures the small miracles of a bumblebee in mid-flight, a spider dangling from a dewy branch, and a firefly’s flash, while Frost urges readers to be mindful of events that seem insignificant: “A spider spins a silken thread/ to step across the air./ A praying mantis looks at you—/ do you know she’s there?” Working in concert, the words and images achieve a Zenlike calm that also hints at the complicated web of life unfolding all around.”  –Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

Rick Lieder is a Detroit area artist and commercial photographer whose clients include Orion Magazine, Natural History Magazine, Daimler Chrysler, IBM, State of Michigan Department of Commerce, IBM, Bantam Doubleday Dell, HarperCollins, Berkley Books, Penguin Publishing, Simon & Shuster, Associated Press, Industrial Technology Institute, Detroit Monthly, Crain’s Detroit Business, Ford Motor Co. Dealer World, Michigan Woman, Automotive News.

Helen Frost is a poet, playwright and children’s author. She was born in Brookings, South Dakota, the fifth of ten children. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Elementary Education and a concentration in English, with Philip Booth and W. D. Snodgrass among her teachers. She received her Masters degree in English from Indiana University in 1994 and now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She is the recipient of a 2009 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship. She is the winner of 3 Silver and 1 Gold Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Awards. Throughout her career, writing and teaching have been inter-woven threads. She has published poetry, children’s books, anthologies, and a play, as well as a book about teaching writing. She has taught writing at all levels, from pre-school through university. Her books include the award-winning  Hidden (set in Central and U.P. Michigan), Diamond Willow (winner of the Michigan Library Association Mitten Award), Crossing Stones (takes place in Michigan), Skin of a Fish, Bones of a Bird and Keesha’s House.

all photos (c)Rick Lieder, 2012