Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony, Lisa Rogers
Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony, Lisa Rogers
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Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony
La Grande Vallée Suite

Author: Lisa Rogers

Narrator: Mia Barron

Unabridged: 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/25/2025

Synopsis

Celebrate the creative process of pioneering American abstract painter Joan Mitchell in this STEAM book, perfect for all kinds of young creators. It’s 1983, and American artist Joan Mitchell is in her studio outside Paris, transforming her emotions and memories into a symphony of colors and shapes. Inspired by her friend’s description of an idyllic hidden valley in France, Mitchell creates 21 massive paintings—her Grande Vallée series—bursting with vibrant, energizing hues. But she doesn’t paint the valley’s flowers and meadows. She paints a feeling about them—abundance, freedom, liveliness—creating a harmonious blend of drips, splashes, and brushstrokes in rainbow colors. When the paint dries, it's time to share her valley with the world. This inspiring, poetic book about an influential yet lesser-known American artist provides a snapshot of a creator who deserves as much acclaim as better-known Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning. Author Lisa Rogers shares both the despair and delight Mitchell experienced throughout her career, as her paintings develop from page to page.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Joanne on April 09, 2025

I have to admit—I picked this up thinking it was about Joni Mitchell. Whoops! But despite my idiocy, I really enjoyed it. This book could serve as a lovely introduction to expressionist art for young elementary school students. The idea that Joan doesn’t have to physically be somewhere to paint how......more

Goodreads review by Raven on March 18, 2025

First and foremost, I was completely blown away by the illustrious artwork by Stacy Innerst! The picture book is about artist Joan Mitchell and her sense of feeling, internal "seeing", and hearing that guided her to create original art masterpieces. Youngest readers will love to find out how this ar......more

Goodreads review by Audrey on November 12, 2025

I loved how this story teaches children about abstract painting while also teaching specifically about Joan Mitchell. Abstract painting isn’t for everyone, but it could be understood by anyone when it’s framed in the way this book did it: instead of painting what you can see, you paint what you feel......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on November 22, 2024

A real triumph for Lisa Rogers and Stacy Innerst! Full of color and vitality. A beautiful book to inspire any budding artist.......more

Goodreads review by YSBR on February 21, 2025

Rather than offer a conventional biography of abstract impressionist Joan Mitchell, Lisa Rogers trains her focus on just one of the artist’s projects, the 21 huge paintings entitled La Grande Vallée, which she created between 1983 and 1984. Although Mitchell lived and worked in France, she had never......more

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