Sean Avery, a dynamic figure at Carnaby Rise Primary School in Landsdale, Perth, wears multiple hats as a designer, author, illustrator, and passionate teacher.
A true example of a visionary, Sean is creating an elevated platform for his class of budding artists, aged between 3 and 6 years old, by applying an athletic mindset – discipline, determination, positivity, resilience and more. By incorporating these values into each of his outlets, specifically art, Sean has seen his worlds combine in The Carnaby Press. The Carnaby Press, established officially in 2019 by Sean and the Carnaby Rise Primary School, is a publishing house that gives students the opportunity to have their self-made books and illustrations professionally published – setting them up with a lifetime of royalties and an experience to always be proud of.
“I really like the idea of ditching art as a career option for kids. I’ve had a career in graphic design and illustration, and creating books; that’s my strength, and kids love books. I love the idea of them making their own books and illustrating their own stories.”
The ingeniously devised programme sees a rising influx of students presenting a book they have written and illustrated themselves. Each year, one victor has their book jazzed up by Sean, who enhances their pictures for professional publication by occasionally adding backgrounds and playing with character proportions.
Not only does he set up an official book launch for the release, but he’s also made the books available online and in print-on-demand form, with contracts ensuring the new authors’ are entitled to 10% royalties.
“This is a business.” Sean smiles. “This is something that we can do, and it’s something that they might want to continue when they leave school. There are many real-world artists making art, and that’s their job. So, I like to inspire that in my kids -you never know what kind of superstars are out there in those young people.
Every single year gets bigger and bigger and more successful – we win more awards, we sell more books – and so admin has taken notice of that.”
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Proudly allowing his classroom to be where a “blanket of expectations can come off” maximises the freedom of creativity and lets the kids explore.
“I’ve always said, ‘Your vase of flowers can look like this, and their vase can look like that.’ It’s okay, it’s not a life skill. This is not an essential thing for you to know how to paint, so give it a go. If it doesn’t work out, maybe the next one is going to be better, so don’t stress. I have a relaxed area in the school.”
Carnaby Press Accolades
- Gabi Silva’s 2020 book, Sushi On The Run, won 3rd place in the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Make Your Own Storybook competition, and 1st place in the Little Larrikins Story Competition. Gabi has even signed a copy of her book for Premier Mark McGowan.
- Lucy Joyce’s 2021 book, Aussie the Pool Bug, won 2nd place in the CBCA Make Your Own Storybook competition.
- Joshua Lo’s 2023 book, Juicy the Fruit Fish, won 2nd place in the CBCA Make Your Own Storybook competition.
Carnaby Press books have been bought and enjoyed by families in Australia, Brazil, Europe, and the USA. The children have won awards which are recognised worldwide, and serve as a prominent real-life work experience that Sean is instilling during the process of creating and producing them. The whole learning experience has been such an inspiring journey for kids, parents, and teachers alike, so much so that it’s being added into the official school curriculum, encouraging more minds to explore and create to the extent of their wildest concoctions from 2024 onwards.
“I see some of the things that people can do, and I just know there could be more.” Sean continues, “I think people write themselves off before they’ve even given themselves a chance to really try. You hear athletes and the way they go off about things so aggressively, with so much power and passion, every single day. That’s where I take my mindset from – I’m applying that mindset to a creative endeavour, which, I think there’s quite a lot of strength in that.”
This year, thousands of children around Australia voted the South African-born creator as their favourite picture book artist of 2023 for his heart-warming novel, Frank’s Red Hat; an intense and fun deliverance of essential life guides which won the CBCA Shadow Judging Picture Book of the Year.
“Frank’s Red Hat is about a little penguin named Frank, who wears this Red Hat, which is like the craziest thing the other penguins have ever seen.” Delving deeply into Frank’s world, Sean describes how he navigates confidence in his readers through his characters.
“They’re freaked out and suspicious, but Frank’s like, ‘Nah, that’s okay, just try the hat, it’s all good.’ The one brave penguin that tries the hat on immediately gets eaten by a killer whale, so the penguins are really convinced that the hats are evil, Frankie’s trying to convince them otherwise, and it just doesn’t work for him.
The penguins are trying to keep him far away, and eventually, he’s about to give up and then realises, ‘Oh, well, actually, there’s a whole bunch of other people who’ve really been enjoying his hats the whole time.’ He had a crowd the whole time – so this is all about creativity and doing things, finding your tribe, and working on your passions, despite what others think of you.
Some of them are quite lofty ideas, and they’re really little kids, but you never know what might stick with them.”
The rise and mentality of a top performer
Sean began writing and drawing young with his mother, which led to the success of his first book, All Monkeys Love Bananas, becoming a national best-seller after its initial publication in 2013. New books are flying out of his ears, having released two this October: Mr Clownfish, Miss Anemone and the Hermit Crab; and Friendly Bee and Friends. He also has three more in the pipeline to light us up in 2024.
“I’m very consistent. Consistency is one of my strengths.” He says with surety and pride.
Shining a light on the foundational work he puts into his life that allows room for all of these activities to flourish healthily, Sean explains,
“It’s a lot of discipline- I go to bed between 7:30 and 8 pm, and wake up at 3 am; I’ll get up and go for a run, do the push-ups, do the chin-ups; I do all the cold showers and all the mornings sitting outside, cross-legged in the grass, breathing; then I sit down and draw, finish, eat with my family, go to work, and come home; quickly answer any emails; and then go to bed early. I do that every day, I don’t miss those – I don’t have days off. What I find is that slow burn every single day, just chucking an hour to two hours into drawing every day, I can move mountains. I can produce probably about as much as full-time authors and illustrators do.
I definitely don’t know if my lifestyle is for everybody. People might think I’m a bit nuts, but it works for me, and I feel fulfilled by it all. I love working; I love the process, I love the grind, I love the early mornings, the quiet, and just hustling to do cool stuff.”
Applying that to the art world, he says,
“Art – it’s a cumulative skill you’re not born with. I’m not born with the ability to draw. For me, I’m really creative, that’s my strength, but my artistic abilities kind of drown here. I’ve had to drag my artistic ability high enough to meet my creative aspirations. I keep telling them it’s all sort of a cumulative skill; some may have a bit of natural talent, but that doesn’t get you too far. It’s really about how you exercise that. The more you exercise it, [the more] it grows.
I just don’t believe in doing the bare minimum. This is the linchpin of everything that I do – to go in and do the bare minimum would not sit well with me. All the times where I’ve been disappointed in my life have been the times where I’ve looked at something and thought, ‘I could have done that better.’ The older I get, the less I want that to happen.”
Mr Avery is a figure who, demonstrated by his actions and example, will continue to inspire present generations and those to come; influencing his pupils deep into their adult years, he humbly craves the best for the world’s population. He recognises our human potential, he exercises his strengths and uses them to help others in a kaleidoscope of ways. For that, he is the most powerful version of himself for the benefit of our world.
“We are built to be happy, strong and healthy. I fear not to live – we have everything to live up to our dreams. You have everything to achieve that, and in a very short period of time you can get all the tools to manifest who you want to be.”
TTFN
All supporting images supplied by Sean E Avery.
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