Interview with Frank Keating and Mike Wimmer

Between the Lines

Will Rogers
Frank Keating
Illustrated by Mike Wimmer

Will Rogers lived by his own rules of modesty, plain living, friendship, and family—his life was the American dream. And now Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, and Oklahoma artist Mike Wimmer have brought the legend to life in this new, beautifully illustrated children's book.

Biography

In addition to this, his first picture book, Frank Keating has written essays for various publications, including The Washington Post, and currently serves as the Governor of Oklahoma. Governor Keating and First Lady Cathy Keating were instrumental in organizing rescue and recovery operations during the Oklahoma City bombing and were honored by the Salvation Army with the prestigious William Booth Award. The Keatings and three children live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Mike Wimmer has illustrated many fine books for children, including Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth by Robert Burleigh, which was named an ALA Notable Children's Book, and Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh, which received the Orbis Pictus Award for nonfiction. Wimmer also enjoys many diverse project assignments, from commercial illustrations for large corporations to creating oversize murals for the Oklahoma State Capitol Building. He lives with his family in Norman, Oklahoma.

Interview with Frank Keating —Author of Will Rogers

Q: In your book, Will Rogers, you provide a glimpse of important periods in the great man's life and also include a famous Will Rogers' witticism on each page. Why did you choose to include these quotes in the story and how did you decide which quotes to include?
A: Rogers spoke about many subjects with wit and depth. The book's quotes were chosen to advance Rogers' message to small children; study, hard work, travel, humility, loyalty and kindness are life's lessons.

Q: Both you and the book's illustrator, Mike Wimmer, are self-proclaimed admirers of Will Rogers. How has this great man and his outlook on life positively influenced you?
A: Never take yourself too seriously and always try to help other people.

Q: What is the most important message you hope that children reading this book will learn from Will Rogers?
A: That life should be an adventure for all of us. We should take advantage of opportunities to expand our horizons and broaden our thinking.

Q: Will Rogers was known for his colloquialisms and casual manner of speech and the book reflects this. How do you recommend that teachers approach the "casualness" of the speech in the book when using it to educate their students about Will Rogers?
A: His language may have reflected the speech of ordinary Americans of the 1930s, but the wisdom and the good sense that it carried apply to every person everywhere . . . even to this day.

Q: I understand that you and Mike Wimmer collaborated on this book before presenting it for publication. How did the two of you meet and create the idea and final plan for this book?
A: It started over a casual meeting about Mike's painting Oklahoma's official Christmas card a few years ago. I admire his work a great deal and was honored to have the chance to work with him. We both did our own research on Will Rogers and compared notes. Rogers is probably the most famous person in Oklahoma's rich history. He seemed like a perfect topic for a children's book and Mike captured his spirit perfectly in the paintings.

Interview with Mike Wimmer —Illustrator of Will Rogers

Q: You spent 8 months researching Will Rogers before you created the paintings and illustrations for this book. What part of your research was most inspirational to your creative work on Will Rogers and his life?
A: As an Oklahoman educated in the public schools of Oklahoma I was already very familiar with Will Rogers, but I wanted to get to know him more personally. I read every book that I could about Will (many referencing him in biographies of other people) and found that no one could speak ill of him. A few people disagreed with his politics but none could find fault with his humanity and personality. It was this aspect of his humanness, his love of the common man and his childlike view of right and wrong that I wanted to bring to life.

Q: What part, if any, of your own Oklahoma experiences have crept into your portraits of Will Rogers?
A: Growing up in eastern Oklahoma I was very familiar with the hills and rivers and openness. I rode horses and worked cattle and on farms as a boy and understand the tie to the land. I know what it feels like to sweat in the summer Oklahoma sun while bailing hay or cutting and dehorning cattle in the spring. And I know the common people with their common dreams growing up in Oklahoma.

Q: In addition to Will Rogers, you've done book illustrations on Charles Lindbergh (Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh) and Babe Ruth (Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth). Is it history, or the accomplishments of these men, or something else that draws you to accept assignments for biographical books and artwork?
A: I guess it really is the sense of fulfilling a dream that has attracted me most to these projects. I regularly read biographies about every kind of person imaginable. So it not necessarily their chosen profession but that person's inspiration for living, their path to accomplishing a goal.

Q: You are a versatile artist who expresses himself in many mediums—oils, murals, and commercial illustrations among them. For this book, you chose to create the illustrations in oil on canvas and spent a great deal of time studying live models, photographs, and props to achieve the final results. What is it about this medium (oil) that lent itself to your vision of Will Rogers?
A: I do paint in many mediums but I always allow the subject to tell me how to paint it. Sometimes the painting needs to be big, because the subject is big. Sometimes detail is the main thing while other times it is the emotions that need emphasizing. There is a psychological response to a certain type of painting. Cowboys have almost always been represented, in art, through oil painting. The great western painters like Russell and Remington used oils just as most of the western painters of today do. Also the posters of Will Rogers time were painted and Photographic. So it is this reason above others that I chose to paint in oils.

Frank Keating

photo credit:
J. D. Merryweather

Mike Wimmer

Will Rogers