Behind the Scenes with Walter Wick, Artist and Author of I SPY! and Can You See What I See?
September 5, 2026 | 2–3 p.m.
Location: High Museum of Art, The Hill Auditorium
Walter Wick (American, born Hartford, Connecticut, 1953), Flatland, from Can You See What I See? Hidden Wonders!, 2021, pigmented inkjet photograph, New Britain Museum of American Art, gift of Walter Wick and Linda Cheverton Wick. © 2021 Walter Wick.
Go behind the scenes with artist Walter Wick, in conversation with organizing curator Andrew Westover. Together, the speakers will explore Wick’s creative process, which is on display in the exhibition I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders. From constructing intricate miniature scenes to experimenting with optical illusions, from transforming everyday objects to puzzles packed with whimsical surprises, learn how Wick’s world-famous books like I SPY! and Can You See What I See? were created.
Join us all day! Family Saturday—the first Saturday of each month—includes multiple family-focused museum activities that invite curious minds of all ages to look closely, ask questions, and imagine new possibilities.
Details for other Family Saturday events can be found here.
Speakers
Walter Wick
Walter Wick is the co-creator and photographer of the famous search-and-find I Spy books.
One day when cleaning out a drawer, Walter arranged the odds and ends – screws, safety pins, springs, washes, a chain – on a glass tabletop. He liked the result and photographed it. That photograph was the spark that set off the first I Spy book, with riddles by Jean Marzollo. Eleven years later, Walter published Can You See What I See?, which inspired such sequels as Scary Scary Night, Treasure Ship, and Out of This World and with each new book in the series, he takes photographic illustration to greater heights of aesthetic achievement.
Whether creating photographic compositions out of odds and ends or out of elaborate sets that he constructs with a team of model makers, Walter Wick opens the eyes and stimulates the imagination of young and old alike.
Andrew Westover
Andrew Westover Ph.D. is the Eleanor McDonald Storza Deputy Director for Learning and Civic Engagement at the High Museum of Art. He is the organizing curator for I SPY! Walter Wick’s Hidden Wonders, and curates the High’s children’s picture book illustration series. Westover regularly moderates public conversations and works to connect people with art to build a better Atlanta. An educator and ethicist, Westover’s previous positions include roles at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, and Smithsonian Institution, among others. Westover holds an MEd from Arizona State University, an MA in Religion from Claremont School of Theology, and an EdM and a PhD in education and ethics from Harvard University.
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