Storytelling in Words & Pictures

Children’s author, Melissa Northway, and Illustrator, Carolyn Le to Lead

“Hands-on” Sunday Afternoon Fun for the Whole Family at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity

Costa Mesa, CA: Write and illustrate your own short story at the Chuck Jones Center on Sunday, April 24 from 1 to 3 PM with children’s book author, Melissa Northway (Penelope the Purple Pirate, Clarence and the Traveling Circus), and illustrator, Carolyn Le (Clarence and the Traveling Circus) nurturing your creativity. This “Creative Classroom” is a free and open to the public event. Space is limited, RSVP a must. 949-660-7793 x 107 or [email protected]. The Center is located at 3321 Hyland Ave., Suite A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 in Orange County’s hip new retail destination, South Coast Collection or “SoCo”.

“The Creative Classroom” workshops, currently scheduled one each quarter, offer children and adults alike, a safe and nurturing platform for exploring and exercising their creative muscles,” said Craig Kausen, chairman of the Center and Chuck Jones’s grandson. “We are at a critical turning point in our economy, from a manufacturing to a service economy and what business leaders are looking for in new hires is the ability to think creatively. One in six new jobs being created in California today is in the creative industries.”

The goal of the Creative Classroom workshops offered by the Chuck Jones Center is to encourage students to find within themselves a world where the laws of gravity don’t apply; a world where the space-time continuum can be altered; a world where they’re in control to break the rules. Imagine then, applying that kind of creative thinking to everyday life. How would they solve the problem if they weren’t constrained by rules, expectations, and assumptions that are imposed on us and we impose on ourselves?

About Melissa Northway:

Melissa Northway was inspired to write children’s picture books after her daughter was born in 2006.   She joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) to find out how to make her dream of publishing a children’s picture book come true.  The journey was long and tons of work, but in January 2011, her first storybook app, Penelope the Purple Pirate, was released through her company Polka Dots Publishing and app developer PicPocket Books. She has published three children’s books that have received numerous awards that her daughter thinks are pretty cool! Her books are available on the iTunes store, Amazon and Barnes & Noble and she is currently working on her fourth children’s book. She is also the creator and editor of the lifestyle website Dandelion Moms.  You can find her at www.dandelionmoms.com and www.melissanorthway.com

About Carolyn Le:

Carolyn draws on the sunny California days, and her love of storytelling to create her watercolor paintings. She has twice received a first-place Illustration Award for her portfolio from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Editor’s Day, have received a Merit Award from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles and have had her work shown in galleries in Los Angeles and London. The illustrations for her first picture book, Clarence and the Traveling Circus, received a Reader’s Choice Award for Illustration. Currently, Carolyn is writing and illustrating her own picture books and dreaming of ways to make her secret wish of having the power to fly come true.

About the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity:

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity is a 501(c)3 public charity located in Orange County, CA. Chuck Jones was a creative genius who gave life to Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote & Bugs Bunny along with over 300 animated films.  The Center, which he founded in 1999, is an organization that fosters and teaches creative thinking—the thinking behind problem solving. It’s a proven fact that “creativity” is like a muscle in your brain that needs exercise in order to get and stay healthy. The stronger that muscle is, the better it works in engaging tasks and solving problems. The Center serves as a gymnasium for the brain. We work with disadvantaged youth, school systems without arts programs, people on the autism spectrum, the elderly (many of whom suffer from early onset dementia), and other groups, including corporate clients, who see the value of pumping up creativity in their ranks.