Where Are You, Agnes?

McWatt uses abstract artist Agnes Martin’s (1912–2004) childhood relationship with her grandfather to view her early understanding of creation and ephemerality in this fictionalized account. After he covers the girl’s eyes as she regards a pale rainbow over a field, Martin’s grandfather asks, “Is it still beautiful?” Following that moment, young Martin develops an interest in the fleeting—she sketches “the feeling of the sun and the movement of wings” and “insects and the patterns they made in the dirt” (in one spread, the girl dreamily rides an enormous insect). And when her grandfather dies, she draws on the “feeling of the rainbow” to propel herself forward, in art and in life. Celej employs washes in the subdued palette that Martin favored, using a motif of lines that hint at the artist’s later creations. Though readers won’t gain an understanding of Martin’s body of work, an author’s note contextualizes this airy, conceptual look at “Agnes’s early sense of abstraction.” Ages 4–8. [em](May) [/em]