Home
About Touchstone
Arts and Education Projects
Workshops and Seminars
Publications Program
Archival Project
Upcoming Activities
Staff Biographies
Funding and Support
Site Contents

Touchstone Center Publications

Touchstone Center Publications is a direct outgrowth of The Touchstone Center’s activities and workshops in schools, museums and environmental centers. Publications range from traditional books to illustrated booklets, to posters and poster-books, and video and audio tapes. The Center’s aim in publishing and distributing is to preserve children’s original writings and art, to document, comment and reflect upon the poetic and imaginative process in learning, and to create and republish books of poetry and myth from a wide spectrum of cultures.

I Catch My Moment:
Art and Writing By Children
On the Life of Play
Compiled by Richard Lewis

In this unique collection, Richard Lewis has gathered some of the poignant and insightful ways children have viewed not only their own playing, but also the very life of play as it takes place within the natural world and the universe at large. Selected from the results of an Arts and Education project of the Touchstone Center, these vibrant, poetic writings and artwork reinforce, once again, the necessity of play as a cornerstone of childhood – and the gift of every child to use their playing to shape their world – with imaginative artistry, freshness and exhilaration.

The beautiful art and writing displayed in I Catch My Moment and the DVD, In the Spirit of Play, recall children’s act of seeing and creating – providing a brilliant illustration of what the Touchstone Center offers: an open door that children are invited to venture through, to engage their minds and hearts to look for the glorious, creative worlds within themselves, and to fully dream their lives through poetry and art.
        -Kristin B. Eno
        Digital Story Workshop/Little Creatures

I Catch My Moment
ISBN 978-1-929299-06-5
56 pages • paperbound • $10.00 • Order Form

Concurrent with the publication of I Catch My Moment Touchstone Center Publications is pleased to announce the reissuing in DVD format of In the Spirit of Play: A Video by Geoffrey Jones, based on the In the Spirit of Play Project at PS 20 in New York City.
8 Minutes-color • VHS or DVD • $10.00 • Order Form

The Thread at Play: A Video by Cecilia Vicuña and Geoffrey Jones documenting workshops with children in a small mountain village school in Chile given by Cecilia Vicuña.
25 Minutes-color • VHS or DVD • $15.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Ways of Imagining

Ways of Imagining is a DVD made up of the video interpretations by Geoffrey Jones of three recent Touchstone Center Publications:  Each Sky Has Its Words, The Bird of Imagining and Cave: An Evocation of the Beginnings of Art.  Using the original art-work and texts from these books, each of these video interpretations has the unique ability to bring the listener and viewer into their poetic and mythical worlds  – and, when used with children and adults alike,  they  are an ideal way of introducing and reinforcing the elemental images and themes inherent in the books themselves.

• $15.00 • Order Form

SPECIAL OFFER Purchase a copy of Ways of Imagining along with a copy each of the three paperbound publications brought together in this DVD – and receive a special reduced
price of $35.00 for the entire set. Order Form

______________________________________

A Tree Lives
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Noah Baen
Touchstone Center Publications, 2005

Based on a poem by Richard Lewis, illustrated by Noah Baen, A Tree Lives was originally written for a group of children at the East Village Community School in New York City as a way to explore the unique knowing lodged deep inside a tree.

A Tree Lives is a 48 page full color book, designed by Heidi Neilson, which asks the reader to imagine the worlds a tree has experienced – from the birds who have nested in its branches, to the moon growing from its leaves, to the return of the day in its roots – and perhaps to something - beyond. In addition to Richard Lewis’ simply stated poem – accompanied by Noah Baen’s lyrical paintings, A Tree Lives includes three pages of the inspired art and writing by the children who were part of the birth of this special tree of knowing.

…. a wonderful jumping off into the realm of exploring trees through wonder and imagination….
-Lynn MacGregor
Teacher, Madison Ave. Presbyterian Day School

We are as much in the tree
as the tree is in us.
I celebrate A Tree Lives
I taste its fruit.
-Tom Goodridge
Director, The Garden Project

…a lovely, simple message of great depth and inspiration…
- Carolyn Toben, Founder and Director, Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World.

A Tree Lives…leads readers inside an ordinary tree, where its dreams and musings give birth to a separate universe.
-Teacher Magazine

48 pages • paperbound • $12.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

CAVE: An Evocation of the Beginnings of Art
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Elizabeth Crawford
Photographed by George Hirose
Touchstone Center Publications, 2003

With a text by Richard Lewis, based on his theatre piece originally performed at the American Museum on Natural History, CAVE has now been brought into book form through a series of striking clay sculptural images created by Elizabeth Crawford, sensitively photographed by George Hirose. Each image reflects the simplicity of a text 'imagining' how and why humans over thirty-thousand years ago, with their profound relationship to the natural world, began to paint on the walls of dark caves, the astonishing images of the animals they hunted and revered.

The third in a series of books documenting texts and projects integral to the educational work of The Touchstone Center, CAVE is published at time when we must look again at the possibilities of imaginative expression as being essential to ourselves and our need to coexist with all forms of life.

CAVE is a thought-provoking inquiry into our quest to understand the origins of art among our distant ancestors. Illustrations are based on photographs of small clay sculptures, carefully molded to form abstract scenes of a Paleolithic world. Rich in shadow and warm earth tones, the scenes are effective in calling forth an image of ancient people in a primordial place and forgotten time. Cave has something to offer just about everyone with an interest in poetry, spirituality, creativity, or the human imagination.
-Danny A. Brass, Illuminations, December, 2005

Beginnings come from both seeds and explosions. CAVE is small enough to hold in one hand yet bright and bold as fire. It reminds us that the impulse to make art is also a significant part of what makes us human and that the need is primary, alive, and not to be forgotten. The language of Richard Lewis' poem is like 'the stars coming toward us.' It blends perfectly with sculpture by Elizabeth Crawford, photographed by George Hirose. Read this book and look right into the cave of imagination!
—Patrice Vecchione. Author of Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within

Long before The Origin of Species and long before Jung discovered the subconscious, man and woman pondered as much upon a dark, smoky canvas of stone. In labyrinthine chambers bearing names like Lascaux and Altamira, the human spirit and the Spirit of the Earth breathed into one another across this membrane of stone - and art was born of the ecstasy. CAVE invites us to breathe like this once more.
—Calvin Luther Martin, Author of The Way of the Human Being

I am so deeply moved by CAVE and the way it allows the beholder to move back in time to inhabit the embrace of stone, to experience darkness and light, to sense, as Campbell says, 'the inner reaches of outer space,' and to experience the human impulse to give back the gift of expressing a sense of oneness with all of life. By the end, we remember who we are.
—Peggy Whalen-Levitt, The Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World

56 pages • paperbound • $14.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Bird of Imagining
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Children from New York City Public Schools
Touchstone Center Publications, 2002

Based on a poem by Richard Lewis and illustrated by twenty-two luminous cray-pas drawings by children from New York City Public Schools, this unique book explores the nature of the imagination through the flight of a bird evolving into the flight of our human imagining. The children's art work in the book came from a series of arts and education residencies of The Touchstone Center at the Central Park East # 1 and #2, The River East School, and the Children's Workshop School in 1989 and 1996.

The second in a series of books highlighting texts instrumental in developing the Center's various thematic residencies in schools, The Bird of Imagining is a book which can be savored and enjoyed by persons of all ages.

A stunningly beautiful book, this selection of drawings by children! Drawings in the form of a bird, the bird of imagining, with an amazing variety of color and form, all inspired by the verses of Richard Lewis. Putting together color and form with such depth of texture gives the sense of primordial immediacy to these drawings. They have an entrancing beauty that comes from some wonder world available only to children. Even for us older folk, these children awaken us to our own singing bird within.
—Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth

…brings fresh ideas and wondrous creative energies to the minds of young and old. The simple yet vivid pictures and the memorable verse make The Bird of Imagining a unique collection of young people's talents.
—Reviewer's Choice, Midwest Book Review

…drawings whose neon vibrancy makes the birds fairly fly off their black backgrounds. A mesmerizing book...
—Audubon Magazine

Lewis' words have inspired the images, and the images, as if in gratitude, give further lift to the author's words....Living, and growing, and an implicit sense of understanding, are three qualities communicated clearly in the pages of The Bird of Imagining. All the birds are fantastic, unlike anything in ornithology, but in their own way, each is realer than real. The 7 x 10-inch book is as intimate as a sketchbook; and as any artist would declare, a sketchbook, like a diary, contains the most personal of all impressions. The images here don't illustrate Lewis' text, but more importantly, express their own genuine reactions to it.
—Big Apple Parent, March 2003

42 pages • paperbound • $16.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Each Sky Has Its Words
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Gigi Alvaré
Touchstone Center Publications, 2000

Originally written for the Touchstone Center’s thematic exploration, Realms of Language, this poem is an evocation of the presence of language in the natural world. Illustrated with luminous black and white watercolors, this picture book can be enjoyed by all who have taken the time to listen and to observe the infinite ways nature speaks to us – and to itself.

"...the clearest best message of a life attuned to nature."
—Jeff Lee, River Lee Books

36 pages • paperbound • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Living by Wonder:
The Imaginative Life of Childhood
By Richard Lewis
Parabola Books / Touchstone Center Publications, 1998

In this group of twenty essays, spanning over two decades of work with children and adults, Richard Lewis looks at the life of the imagination of childhood. Exploring various facets of children’s play, art, stories, poetry and language-making each of these essays attests to the importance of nurturing and supporting the imagination as a necessary part of all learning. Addressed to anyone concerned with the emotional, spiritual and intellectual life of childhood, Living By Wonder is a compelling and timely statement.

"Lewis portrays his insights in children's profound thinking based on his interactions as a teacher and parent. Practical workshop descriptions, poetic quotes, and personal accounts are included. Lewis promotes the belief that imagination is a natural birthright and a treasure not to be squelched by standards-based urriculums."
—Rebecca Martin, Schools Arts Magazine

"This book is excitingly rich...On every page are thoughts and phrases that like pebbles tossed into a pool set our adult minds in motion with the possibilities of language and imagination."
—Ellen Dissanayake, author and teacher.

"In this lovely book, Richard Lewis demystifies the child’s imagination while capturing its poetic spirit."
—Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"The book centers on children, but one hopes passionately that adults will lay it to heart also. Do we not need it just as much?"
—Elizabeth Sewell, educator and author

"Richard Lewis has retained a rare and almost uncanny sense of the experience of childhood. He combines this with immense sensitivity to the language and thinking of young children today. The result is a wonderfully engaging and life-affirming book that will both delight and provide practical help to anyone who spends time with children."
—Kieran Egan, Simon Fraser University

"If any teacher is tempted to abandon the arts in favor of focusing on raising test scores in rote ways, please read this book to renew your commitment to the imaginative and emotional needs of your students."
—Dee Dickinson, New Horizons for Learning Journal

"....these heartfelt essays will give readers a new respect for the ‘heroic’ quality of a child’s imagination."
—Publishers Weekly

Parent's Guide 2002 Classic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parenting Materials

150 pages • hardcover • $18.95 • Order Form

150 pages • paperbound • $12.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

When Thought Is Young:
Reflections on Teaching and the
Poetry of the Child
By Richard Lewis
New Rivers Press, 1992

A series of personal reflections on the emerging poetic consciousness of childhood, illustrated by the author’s daughter and accompanied by children’s writings. Touching upon the beginnings of language, play, and the inward awareness of children, this book is a way of understanding childhood from the vantage point of the phenomena of childhood itself.

"I was entranced by this beautiful, thoughtful book which evokes the mystery of child life as few have.... A book for parents, for teachers, for us all to wonder at and enjoy, and muse over."
Seonaid Robertson, teacher and author

"A small but profound book about the poetic nature of the young child ....."
—Parent and Preschooler Newsletter

"An amazing, enchanting and beautifully constructed book...."
—Anne Wright, teacher and author

Parent's Guide 2002 Classic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parenting Materials

72 pages • paperbound • $7.95 • Order Form

______________________________________

In the Space of the Sky
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Debra Frasier
Harcourt, 2002

A picture book for all ages which takes readers on a poetic journey through the spaces surrounding us in the natural world, from a tiny shell to the immense blue sky to the infinite expanses of our dreams and imagination.

In the Space of the Sky is a true and synergistic collaboration between language and collage. It will feed children's need for color, for myth, for hope, for belonging to the whole of the earth.
—Riverbank Review

A rhythmic ode to nature
—Publishers Weekly

24 pages • hardcover • $16.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Miracles:
Poems by Children of the
English-speaking World.
Collected by Richard Lewis
Simon and Schuster, 1966

A pioneering collection of nearly 200 poems that reveal the excitement, wonder, and rich imaginative power of children. The writers are all between the ages of five and thirteen and come from a wide variety of backgrounds – the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Kenya, Uganda, Canada, England, Australia, India and the Philippines. But they have one thing in common: they are all children who, for the brief moment of a poem, have spoken with the intensity, vision and artistry of the poet.

"Fresh, glowing, cascading on the senses..."
—Sylvia Ashton-Warner, NY Times Book Review

"All libraries will want this book for the vision of its young authors; all adults will want to read these poems for the pure delight of it..."
—Library Journal

"It isn’t a book, it is an experience; for the very young to feel and recognize, for the young to feel and capture their unique heartbeat, and for the old to feel and feel again the sense of wonder."
—Publishers Weekly

214 pages • paperbound • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Butterfly in My Pocket:
On Teaching the Imaginative Experience
By Richard Lewis
Afterward by Virginia Hamilton
School of Education, Queens College, 1987

Based on specific teaching situations in classrooms in New York City, this monograph discusses the importance of the imagination, in enabling children to come in touch with their inner world. Valuable for anyone concerned with the nature of the imagination and how it can be a vital part of every classroom environment.

"...a wonderous view into the instant-expansible mind-universe of a child’s imagination...."
—Virginia Hamilton

14 pages • paperbound • $5.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Journey Within
A Film by Eleanor Hamerow and Naomi Trubowitz
Produced by Renascence Films, 1990

This film documents Richard Lewis and the way he unlocks a child’s capacity for imaginative thinking. Working with a sixth grade class at the Louis Armstrong Intermediate School in New York City, Lewis creates an atmosphere alive with excitement as he moves children to use their imagination and to express their feelings through poetry and art. The film interweaves classroom sequences, the children’s poems, and Richard Lewis’ thoughts about teaching and the imaginative experience.

"The Journey Within challenges us to go beyond curriculum guidelines and bureaucratic requirements to think of schools as places of imagination where the teacher is a bridge-builder between the experience and know-how students bring to school, and deeper, wider ways of knowing."
—William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Lewis is an inspiring teacher. He captures his students’ attention through his delightful presence.... The children are spellbound, and readily enter his world of imagination, feeling, and self-awareness.... This film celebrates the wonder of imagination."
—Resource Center for Education Renewal

Cine Golden Eagle, 1991; Finalist, 33rd American Film and Video Festival, 1991; 33rd International Festival of Documentary and Short Films, Bilbao, Spain, 1992

25 Minutes, color • VHS • $25.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Touchstone Center Journal:
Writings on the Imagination
Touchstone Center Publications,1997

Made up of a group provocative and inspiring essays on the imagination by speakers who participated in a series of programs, produced by the Touchstone Center, at the American Museum of Natural History and the Abrons Arts Center of the Henry Settlement. Included are essays by Ellen Dissanayake, Kieran Egan, Howard Gardner, Roger Lipsey, Elizabeth Sewell and Paul Shepard – reflecting in diverse and fascinating ways upon the evolution of the imagination and the role of the mythic and poetic imagination within learning.

95 pages • paperbound • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Touchstone Study:
Bringing the Arts to the Schools
By Lillian Goldberg
Touchstone Center Publications,1984

An important study examining the innovative interdiscplinary thematic process of the The Touchstone Center during a five year residency at an elementary school in New York City. Stimulating reading for anyone involved in the role the arts can play in education, and the life of a school.

"...an extremely valuable documentation..."
—Howard Gardner, Harvard University

232 pages • paperbound • $15.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Fire, Fire Burning Bright:
Six Programs for Young People on the
Nature and Origins of Poetry.
Written and Narrated by Richard Lewis.
Produced by Charles Potter.
Touchstone Center Publications,1985

Six fifteen minute audiotapes for young people based the themes of the sky, the sea, time, dreams, death, and love. Each tape explores how these themes have been expressed by poets from cultures throughout the world. An integral part of the series are the voices and poetry of students at the Louis Armstrong Intermediate School in Queens, New York, discussing the poetic materials of each theme. Ideal for helping young people think about how and why poems are made, as well as a way to encourage them to write their own poetry.

Complete set of six tapes • $25.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

In The Spirit of Play
Filmed and Edited by Geoffrey Jones
Written and Narrated by Richard Lewis
Music by Lou Harrison
Touchstone Center Publications, 1998

Created as an introduction to The Touchstone Center’s In The Spirit of Play exhibition at the Abrons Arts Center of the Henry Street Settlement in 1998, this video presents the questions asked of children participating in this two-year project about the nature of their play and the existence of play within nature and the universe at large. The video shows how these questions were expressed and ultimately answered through the provocative and playful artwork by these NYC school children.

8 minutes •VHS • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Caleu Está Soñando
(The Thread at Play)
Edited by Cecilia Vicuña and Geoffrey Jones
Camera and Sound by Claudio Mercado
Touchstone Center Publications, 1999

In this videotape, poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña, documents her workshops with children in a small mountain village school in Chilé, bringing them into a metaphoric celebration of their inward thoughts and playfulness. The result is a moving insight into the power of poetic thought to link children to the roots of their indigenous culture. An interview of Ms.Vicuña with Richard Lewis provides valuable information about the overall process of the workshops – and the eventual impact they had on both children and the community at large.

25 minutes color •VHS • $15.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Image of Nature
By Richard Lewis
Touchstone Center Publications, 1981

This monograph is a distillation of ideas central to a workshop given for teachers on ways to help children perceive the natural environment by using Chinese and Japanese poetry.

14 pages • paperbound • $5.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

To Make A World
Filmed and Edited by Betsy Newman
Written and Narrated by Richard Lewis
Touchstone Center Publications, 1997

A quiet visual evocation of children creating art-work interspersed with images and sounds of the natural world accompanied by a poem encouraging us to use our imagination to observe – and ultimately, express the many "worlds" of nature.

5 minutes • VHS • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Versions of the Traditional:
A Journal of Translations From
Indigenous Cultures
Touchstone Center Publications, 1989

A collection of translations by outstanding poets, anthropologists, and story-tellers, who participated in the Center’s long-term series at the American Museum of Natural History, rendering the mythic and poetic material of indigenous cultures throughout the world. Included are translations from, amongst others, the Aztec, Nuer, Egyptian, Navajo, and Andamanese, by Joseph Bruchac, John Bierhorst, Steven Lonsdale, Terese Svoboda, Judith Gleason, Dennis Tedlock, David Cloutier, David McAllister, David Guss, Diane Wolkstein and W.S. Merwin.

31 pages • paperbound • $6.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Sing We of Creeping and Crawling Things
Touchstone Center Publications,1978

Using selections from different folk tales and myths from Native America,African and Asian cultures this reversible poster sings the praises of frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodiles, and dragons. Folds into pocket-size format.

Poster, Two colors, 22 1/2 by 17. • $4.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Air Sings, Earth Dances
Touchstone Center Publications, 1979

Praising the powerful forces of air, earth, water, and fire, this reversible poster, made up of folklore and graphic designs from a variety of indigenous cultures, is accompanied by a poem by Richard Lewis. Folds into pocket-size format.

Poster, two colors, 22 1/2 by 17 • $4.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

In A Spring Garden
Edited by Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
Dial Press,1976

Using Japanese haiku poems, this book chronicles a day in spring from an early morning question put to a snail to the glowing good night of a firefly. With delicate and striking full color illustrations by the noted children’s book illustrator and Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats, this remains a unique and unusual book.

"A beautiful, creative blend of poetry and illustrations."
School Library Journal, double starred review.

32 pages (Japanese Edition) Bilingual hardbound $24.00

32 pages • paperbound • $4.95 • Order Form

______________________________________

In A Spring Garden(Video)
Illustrations by Ezra Jack Keats
Narrated by Richard Lewis
Music by Mary Lynn Twombly

The original film rendition, produced by Morton Schindel and Weston Woods Studio, is now available on videotape.

"A gem not to be missed anywhere in the elementary school is this exquisite film on the art of haiku – a film that will stimulate the mind and delight the eye...."
—Childhood Education

Color • 6 minutes • VHS • $15.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

All of You Was Singing
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Ed Young
Atheneum, 1991

A rendering of an ancient Aztec myth about how music came to the earth. With Caldecott winner Ed Young’s stunning artwork based on Mexican designs and motifs, this book offers the reader a story full of light and magic, and the breath of being music has brought to human life. An ALA Notable Children’s Book for 1991, this retelling is for persons of all ages.

"Outstanding in every way." —Kirkus Reviews

32 pages • hardbound $13.95 • paperbound $4.75 • Order Form

______________________________________

In The Night Still Dark
By Richard Lewis
Illustrated by Ed Young
Atheneum, 1988

A lyrical adaptation from the traditional Hawaiian creation chant, the Kumulipo, recited over a newborn child in the belief that its recitation helps bond that new life to all other living things. With brilliant illustrations by Caldecott winner Ed Young, this book is a poetic evocation of the dawn of life, with its abundance of new creatures and plant life.

"A beautiful and unusual book that has great impact."
—School Library Journal.

32 pages • hardbound • $13.95 • Order Form

______________________________________

Still Waters of the Air:
Poems by Three Modern Spanish Poets
Edited by Richard Lewis
Drawings by Arvis Stewart
Dial Press, 1970

Selected poems by three of Spain’s finest modern poets – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Frederico García Lorca and Antonio Machado exploring the magic of nature’s seasons and those of humankind: from birth, through childhood, to maturity, old age, and death.

"Striking black and white drawings augment the exquisite beauty of the poems"
—Books for School Libraries

96 pages, Bilingual • hardbound • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

Of This World:
A Poet’s Life in Poetry
Edited by Richard Lewis
Photographs by Helen Buttfield
Dial Press,1968

A collection of the poetry of the 18th century Japanese haiku poet, Issa, arranged as a poetic retelling of his life. The beauty of the natural world is captured in luminous photographs that accompany and enhance Issa’s enchanting and moving expression of his encounter with all of the living world.

"....an arresting collection of beautiful haiku with illustrations that are camera poems." —Horn Book

96 pages • hardbound • $10.00 • Order Form

______________________________________

The Way of Silence:
The Prose and Poetry of Basho
Edited by Richard Lewis
Photographs by Helen Buttfield
Dial Press, 1970

In this book, Basho, one of Japan’s most insightful 17th century poets, relates both through his haiku and prose the thoughts and emotions of his solitary pilgrimages that led him to an inspired state in which man and nature are one. Evocative photographs complement Basho’s profound and enduring vision.

"...a welcome gift to all poetry readers."
—Publishers Weekly

111 pages • hardbound • $10.00 • Order Form

Home | About Touchstone | Arts and Education Projects | Workshops and Seminars | Publications Program | Archival Project | Upcoming Activities | Staff Biographies | Funding and Support | Site Contents

©2000 - 2007 The Touchstone Center