Edgerton, Perky

views updated

Edgerton, Perky

Personal

Married Brian Meunier (an artist and educator); children: two daughters. Education: Boston University, B.F. A., 1978; Tyler School of Art, M.F.A., 1980; attended Accademia delle Belle Arti.

Addresses

Home—Swarthmore, PA. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Painter. Exhibitions: Work included in Frumkin/Strure Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1983; Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 1983-84; More Gallery, Philadelphia, 1987; Levy Gallery, Philadelphia, 1989; and Noyse Museum, Oceanville, NJ, 1987. Solo exhibition staged at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 1997.

Awards, Honors

National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, 1981; Pennsylvania Council for the Arts fellowship, 1988.

Illustrator

Brian Meunier, Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs, Dutton (New York, NY), 2003.

Brian Meunier, Bravo Tavo!, Dutton (New York, NY), 2007.

Sidelights

Perky Edgerton, an artist who specializes in contemporary Italian Renaissance portraiture, has provided the illustrations for a pair of children's books written by her husband, Brian Meunier. Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs, a tale set in a small Mexican village, centers on young Lupe and her magical canine, Pipiolo. Troubled by the living conditions of San Pablo Etla's other dogs, who never leave their owner's rooftops, Pipiolo engineers an amazing escape inspired by a John Wayne film. Edgerton uses "sweeping lines, stylized forms and twilit street scenes to convey the proper anything-is-possible air," noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In School Library Journal critic Nina Lindsay stated that the illustrator's "rich, bright paintings capture the heat and color of the village, and the nighttime scenes are particularly vibrant."

A young Mexican boy dreams of basketball stardom in Bravo Tavo!, the second collaboration between Edgerton and Meunier. Although Tavo hopes to become the next Michael Jordan, his ragged sneakers, patched with duct tape, hinder his development on the basketball court. After Tavo helps his father construct irrigation ditches that bring water to his village's parched farmland, he receives a wonderful gift from his elderly neighbor, whom some consider a witch. According to Mary Jean Smith, writing in School Library Journal, the book's "colorful folk-style paintings convey the hard life in this beautiful place and the quiet resolve of father and son." Booklist critic Randall Enos also remarked favorably on Bravo Tavo!, noting that Edgerton's "sweeping earth-toned artwork, brightened with greens and blues, ably conveys how things both big and small matter."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, review of Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs, p. 328; May 15, 2007, Randall Enos, review of Bravo Tavo!, p. 49.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2003, review of Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs, p. 912; July 1, 2007, review of Bravo Tavo!

Publishers Weekly, August 25, 2003, review of Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs, p. 64.

School Library Journal, October, 2003, Nina Lindsay, review of Pipiolo and the Roof Dogs, p. 131; August, 2007, Mary Jean Smith, review of Bravo Tavo!, p. 86.