Today’s grandmother may enjoy being the family’s household manager, spend her time happily volunteering or wear a business suit as the CEO of a major corporation. In children’s books however, grandmas often look like bubbie from the old country.
That’s not how you will see Bubbie, Gram, Cookie or whatever names grandmas are using today in photographer Gloria Baker Feinstein’s new book “Some Grandmas.”
{mprestriction ids="1,3"}The grandmother of two — Henry and Clara — with a third expected in June, Feinstein starting thinking about creating this book as she spent time reading to her first grandchild, who is now 4 ½ years old.
“Sadly grandmothers are still portrayed with grey buns on top of their head, wearing wire-rimmed spectacles, sitting in a rocking chair knitting, or in the kitchen, or in the garden, or dispensing good advice instead of being young and active and vital, which is what I consider myself to be and most of my friends to be,” the award-winning photographer said last week.
“They say 60 is the new 40. I guess the 60-year-old baby boom grandmas are a lot more active than most of those grandmas that are portrayed in kids’ books, so I wanted to put something out there that showed the whole range.”
The children’s book celebrates all kinds of grandmothers, including those who make loud music, those who like to sit quietly, those who ride bikes and those who ride in wheelchairs. Feinstein’s color portraits of grandmothers of all ages, shapes, colors and sizes grace the pages of this friendly book, one that punctuates the love all grandmothers have for their grandchildren.
“Some Grandmas” features many local women. They will be honored at a book signing/reception to be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at Reading Reptile, 328 W. 63rd Street in Brookside. Feinstein will do a reading and introduce the featured grandmothers at 1:30.
When she first began thinking about her book, Feinstein searched her archives for appropriate photos.
“You may notice that (former Kansas City resident) Linda Cohen is on the cover of the book. I think that grandchild is 10 or 11 now. That is by far the oldest photo in the book.”
“I love that photo because of the sense of wonder on both of their faces,” she continued. “When I showed it to a few people, they wondered if they were at an aquarium or what it is. They are actually under their sukkah. I was there photographing their kids and grandchildren that were in town for Sukkot one year.”
After Feinstein searched her archives, she sketched out the book and wrote the text describing the grandmothers she planned to depict.
“The rest of the pictures I shot recently to match the text,” she said.
Other members of the Jewish community are featured in the book as well as a self-portrait of Feinstein. She is the grandma wearing slippers.
One of the photos Feinstein likes the best is of a hiker in the mountains.
“The woman with the really beautiful white hair. She is this incredible Jewish woman I met on the trail when we were in Aspen last fall. She is in her 80s and she was hiking way beyond what Eddie and I were hiking,” she said. Eddie is her husband and co-grandparent. If this book does well, she hopes to publish a similar one featuring grandpas.
Down the road, Feinstein would like to write a book with her grandchildren.
“As soon as Henry was born I wanted to write a book with him,” she said.
“Obviously he’s not ready, but I’m hoping he’s getting to that point. So in the meantime I decided to do my own. This idea came to me about a year ago.”
Feinstein is well known as a fine art and portrait photographer based in Kansas City. Her work has been included in exhibitions across the country and can be found in the collections of the High Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography, the University of Kentucky Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, to name a few. Feinstein’s photographs are published regularly in Sun Magazine and New Letters Magazine. Her previously published book titles include: “From the Heart: A Mosaic of Memories” (photos from this collection are currently on display in the White Theatre wing of the Jewish Community Campus), “Among the Ashes,” “Convergence” and “Kutuuka.” She is the founding director of the non-profit organization “Change the Truth” which provides assistance and opportunities to Ugandan children affected by war, poverty and disease.
“Some Grandmas” is her first children’s book, but not the first book she’s written. She also wrote the text for “Among the Ashes,” filled with photographs taken at eight concentration and death camps in Central Europe.
“Of course the text in this book wasn’t very extensive, a few sentences here and there. But I’m hoping that children like it and I’m really hoping that it will be a great way for grandmas to engage with their grandkids as they are reading it because there are opportunities for them to snuggle and to kiss and to hug and to make funny faces. So hopefully it a fun, interactive thing when they are reading it to their grandkids.”
The book retails for $19.95. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to the foster grandmother program at Operation Breakthrough.
“I’ve been doing all the photography for Operation Breakthrough for 10 or 12 years and I’ve been very, very involved. I always see these older women come in to rock the babies or to read to the young children. I finally asked who these incredible loving older women were.”
What Feinstein learned was that they are part of the foster grandparent program. At Operation Breakthrough, there are mostly foster grandmothers.
“They are so loving and so wonderful,” she said. “I love these women and I hoped I could raise a little awareness and a little money about the foster grandmother program to do something special for them.”{/mprestriction}
