O Is For Oystercatcher

With gorgeous hand colored block prints for children to enjoy, and entertaining and informative corresponding text for adults, this 53-page book allows people of all ages to discover what's special about the creatures living on NJ's coast. Patrizzi says the entire family can share the book: "I think anyone interested in the wetlands could learn something from the book and enjoy the images."
By the way, A is for albacore .
— Atlantic City Weekly

A Primer for All of Us
By Pat Johnson
 (Reprinted from The SandPaper)

When you step onto the beach, are you the 90-IQ weakling who must fumble for knowledge of the seashore while that marine biologist on the next blanket gets all the babes or mimbos? Are you tired of being teased for such shore faux pas as running when a horseshoe crab crawls out of the bay?

Wish you could be more like your shore-savvy friends but don’t have a lifetime to spend poring over those boring field guides? Then O Is for Oystercatcher; A Book of Seaside ABCs by Barbara Patrizzi is the answer.

It’s a shore naturalist primer that’s perfect for the busy vacation. It can be read in bites, A,B,C today, C,D,F tomorrow and so on (we all know the ending). Just a few easy hours spent under the beach umbrella or waiting for the takeout order to be delivered and you’ll be full of fascinating facts about nature that you can happily drop during happy hour.

But seriously, O Is for Oystercatcher is fun to read and presented in a gorgeously illustrated format.

Artist and writer Barbara Patrizzi grew up in southern New Jersey and is committed to protecting the coast. By lovingly capturing the living world of the shore, she hopes to interest those who are only casually acquainted with it so they, too, might care enough to work to preserve it.

"We are never too young or too old to immerse ourselves in the natural world," she writes in her preface. "This book can help on many levels to introduce children and adults alike to some of the fascinating species that inhabit the coast. Hopefully readers will be inspired to get out and get their feet wet, explore the rich and varied wildlife in our coastal regions and try to make a difference."

Patrizzi is an accomplished artist who uses her gifts to advance environmental causes. Her work has been included in exhibitions in Anchorage, Alaska, that evolved around the Exxon-Valdez oil spill (1993); at Rutgers, Camden, in a show titled "Message from the Planet: Artists Work to Save the Earth" (1995); and "Undercurrents: Women Artists Focusing on the Beauty and Vulnerability of Aquatic Ecosystems" (1993) at the Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville.

O Is for Oystercatcher’s format allowed Patrizzi to make 26 beautiful woodblock illustrations. E for Egret, F for Fluke and S for Seahorse are particularly beautiful, while children with a scientific bent will love hearing that Oystercatchers (shore birds with a bright orange bill for prying open shellfish) are able to see, walk and feed themselves within hours of hatching and that blue claw crabs, with their eyes at the end of stalks, have nearly 360-degree vision -– very useful when trying to avoid being pinched.

Although the book jacket says ages 4 and up will enjoy the book, any 4-year-old able to relate to U is for Univalve or Z is for Zygoptera needs a college fund right away, but the bright and bold graphics are certainly toddler friendly.
Patrizzi currently resides in Philadelphia and Somers Point, N.J., where she lives with her partner and various four-legged friends, and keeps busy swimming, kayaking and gardening. This is her first book.

Down The Shore Publishing, an independent publisher, always turns out beautifully designed books that are as much a joy to have and hold as they are to read. Their catalog specializes in mid-Atlantic and coastal subjects, local history and other books of local interest, and shore novels.
(Reprinted with permission from The SandPaper, Long Beach Island, NJ. Copyright © 2004 Jersey Shore Newsmagazines)


Copyright © 2004 Jersey Shore Newsmagazines.

Author Barbara Patrizzi wants her new A-B-C book to get folks to appreciate all the incredible things our shoreline has to offer.
(Review published in The Beachcomber,
 August 6, 2004)

Artist Barbara Patrizzi's first memory of kindergarten is "standing in the playground at the base of a big tree, allowing several fuzzy caterpillars to walk up my arms and through my hair. Our teacher was aghast at this, and the other kids continued with their games, oblivious to what I considered these fascinating, mysterious little creatures." As she was growing up, the natural world held her interest much more than the malls, TV or school.

"It was my grandfather who taught me so much about the natural world," Patrizzi said. "He was the kind of guy who found real joy in nature. It was a real gift to be able to spend time with him and learn from him in such an informal and loving way.

"I collected stuff down at the creek near our house. We always had tadpoles, turtles, grasshoppers, bees and whatnot. I kept them at the house for a day or two for 'observation purposes,' and then made sure to return them to where I found them."

This fascination with wildlife has coalesced in Patrizzi's first book, O is For Oystercatcher: A Book of Seaside ABCs (Down The Shore Publishing, $16.95). Each letter – from "A for albacore" to "Z for zygoptera" – is illustrated by a hand-colored linoleum block print. The images of shore species include the blue claw crab, egret, turtle, jellyfish and horseshoe crab; plus plants such as cattails, Irish moss and pitch pine. Her affection for the coast is evident in the graphically beautiful depiction of the plant or animal in each color print, reminiscent of Gauguin’s woodblock prints.

Although A-B-C books are usually considered for children, the short stories with each letter in Oystercatcher are written more to read with children, but have enough information to satisfy the adult, beginning naturalist. This is from Oystercatcher: "The oystercatcher gets its name from its favorite food, the oyster. It uses its large bill as a tool to pry open these and other bivalves. Oystercatcher chicks are able to see, walk, and feed themselves within hours of hatching from their eggs. This self-sufficiency is just one example of how resilient these maritime birds are … This wading bird is easy to identify along the shoreline, jetties and tidal mud flats. Look for its long, bright orange bill, and listen for the loud kleep of its piping call."

Each image in the book is from an original relief print, one of the oldest of all printmaking techniques. A design is carved into the surface of a material, ink is applied to the remaining raised areas and paper is then pressed against the inked surface. The black part of the resulting image was the raised, or inked, section on the block. For this book, the non-inked white areas were hand-colored with polychrome pencils.

When asked if she considered herself a naturalist in addition to an artist, Patrizzi responded, "I suppose that I am, in the sense that I look, see, and consider my world in the way that a naturalist does. We are a part of this amazing living organism that is the Earth. If I want one thing from this book, it is to get folks to appreciate all the incredible things that our shoreline has to offer. It is truly a place of unbelievable beauty and value. There is so much more to experience than just hanging out at the boardwalk and the beach – not that there's anything wrong with that!"

Patrizzi's work has taken various forms – sculpture, painting, box assemblages – but "always having to do with our relationship and/or perception of the world we live in." Her work has been included in exhibitions in Anchorage, Alaska, which evolved around the Exxon-Valdez oil spill (1993); at Rutgers, Camden in a show called "Message from the Planet: Artists Work to Save the Earth" (1995); and "Undercurrents: Women Artists Focusing on the Beauty and Vulnerability of Aquatic Ecosystems" (1993) at the Noyes Museum in Smithville.

And in the future? Patrizzi is considering two other book projects: one about the Pine Barrens and another illustrating "Fisherman's Wife," a Depression-era story set on Long Beach Island.

O is For Oystercatcher is dedicated to her grandfather and to her artist friend, Connie Jost. Jost's input "was more the shore and ocean influence. Her art was all about fish and ocean ecology. These two important people in my life both died in a fairly short period of time, and in that stage of mourning this book began to take shape. It's kind of my love letter to them, and to New Jersey — or at least the start of one."

Copyright © 2004 Jersey Shore Newsmagazines.

O is for Oystercatcher.
A is for albacore

B is for blue crab

C is for cattail

And all the way to Z, which is for zygoptera.

“It’s a shore naturalist primer that’s perfect for the busy vacation. It can be read in bites: A, B, C today, C, D, F tomorrow and so on (we all know the ending). Just a few easy hours spent under the beach umbrella or waiting for the takeout order to be delivered and you’ll be full of fascinating facts about nature that you can happily drop during happy hour.”

“Each letter — from "A for albacore" to "Z for zygoptera" — is illustrated by a hand-colored linoleum block print. The images of shore species include the blue claw crab, egret, turtle, jellyfish and horseshoe crab; plus plants such as cattails, Irish moss and pitch pine. Her affection for the coast is evident in the graphically beautiful depiction of the plant or animal in each color print, reminiscent of Gauguin’s woodblock prints.”