I went to an event last night and met a childhood star, Illustrator Pat Cummings, along with contemporary book artist: Nina Cruz, Selina Alko and Steven Savage.
Pat Cummings, just like Eloise Greenfield, is a heroine for all Black children. Their poems, narratives, art and dedication to the literary world for children of color is on an even higher status than The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. For, while The Very Hungry Caterpillar, introduced children all over the world to colors and counting; they introduced forgotten Black children (all over the world) to the world of books and self representation (along with their many contemporaries). Thus, when I saw Pat Cummings on the program, I made sure to clear my schedule and attend.
Professor Andera Davis Pinkney was the moderator and started off by asking each illustrator to tell about themselves. Each illustrator pulled up beautiful books they illustrated and shared their art process. Selina Alko, a journalist like me, shared the most breathtaking journal. She created full page collages for each spread in an old journal. I watched in awe as she only showed us three spreads (it ended too soon!) and then showed us her images in her children’s book about Joni Mitchell.
I remember thinking, who is Joni Mitchell and I scanned the room and it seemed like everyone knew Joni. Little did I know I was about to find out….in class that night. (One of my classmates, Paige, spoke about a book she read and the book began with the character listening to a sad song by Joni Mitchell- then Paige spoke about feeling even more connected to the book because she also enjoyed Joni Mitchell).
Nina Cruz shared her books and spoke about digital art. I never saw her work even though I read books by her father Donald Cruz. She shared a book she wrote that I could have used last year when I did a fourth grade lesson on Richard Wright. She also shared a new book she is working on for older children entitled, Liftoff: How the Apollo Moon Mission made Alma Thomas’s art Soar. Then, the name Alma Thomas didn’t ring any bells but as I am writing I realize Alma Thomas is a favorite artist of one of my best friends.
The next to speak was Pat Cummings and she spoke with joy. Her voice was that of a visit to a favorite aunt’s house. Her anecdotes made everything about the event, homely. At one point, when I turned around laughing, another person in the audience caught my eye and while others settled down we continued to laugh. The following are pointers she shared with us for artist and writers who want to get their work published:
- Remember, Expression is Everything, little kids read people faces and body language,
- make every character in the book think they are the star of the book,
- build a world around the character,
- THINK, Surprise yourself and finally make it personal.
Lastly, we met Steven Savage who shared his clean and simple illustrations. He said he is wired by the “less is more” motto and ended his introduction by saying “My art is meant to be my happy, clean, calm space.”
“Wow!” I thought, “Imagine? Art as a job and also a happy, clean, calm space. What a thought!
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