Book Awards!

Join me and author Alison Goldberg as we celebrate BOTTLE TOPS: The Art of El Anatsui at the Children's Africana Book Awards Ceremony and Festival.

There will be book signings, Q&A sessions and book themed art activities featuring CABA 2023 Honor and Award book authors and illustrators! 

Saturday, October 14, 2023 from 11am-3pm at the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library, Howard UniversityWashington, DC.

This is a free family-friendly event. Please RSVP here

Virtual Visits...

The hero of I am Farmer: Growing an Environmental Movement in Cameroon, Farmer Tantoh Nforbah, is conducting virtual visits! You can contact him at fatantoh@gmail.com to set up your classroom or library's virtual interview session!

You can also learn about his current environmental work in Cameroon at https://www.syfaglobal.org/.

Mural...

I was honored to bring to life the portraits of Catherine and Adam Blake Jr., fixtures in the 19th century development of downtown Albany, NY., through a colorful mural!

A collaboration between the Albany Center Gallery and The Blake Annex, my mural, "Meet the Blakes: Icons of Industry" celebrates this African-American couple who thrived as entrepreneurs in a time and place where they were not always welcome or supported.  

The mural adorns the walls of The Blake Annex, the United Way of the Greater Capital Region's new co-working space in the old Steuben Club building. You can request a tour and check it out!

Podcast Guest...

Follow along with the Artful Albany guided walking tour podcast, exploring the painted murals in the Capital Walls Public Art Project! In each episode, participating mural artists share their inspiration and process in making their murals come to life.

Listen to Episode 1: Bluebirds & Geraldine's Reverie for a behind the scenes look at my very first large-scale mural

Studio TV Visit...

I was recently honored to share a bit of my artistic process and childhood memories with the folks at AHA! A House for Arts, on my local public television station, WMHT-tv.

You can watch my segment, as well as past episodes, here!

Hope you enjoy!

StoryWalk...

Bedtime for Sweet Creatures is the newest addition to Albany, NY's StoryWalk program! Albany Public Library and the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District have disassembled and posted book pages around downtown Albany at 17 participating locations, so you can read the book as you take a short walk!

View the Bedtime for Sweet Creatures Downtown StoryWalk® Project tour locations on Google maps here.

Check out the neighborhood maps for all of Albany's StoryWalks here.

Mural...

I recently painted a mural at Lincoln Elementary Community School in Schenectady, NY... 'Flourishing Garden' is inspired by the tenets that the school community lives by, and features the words "We love, we dream, we grow, we serve, we flourish" and bright, diverse flowers thriving together under blue skies and bountiful sunshine... 

Podcast Guest...

I was recently honored to be a guest on the wonderful The Children's Book Podcast with Matthew Winner. We talked about books, faces, and more... Hope you can check it out!

Podcast Guest...

I recently had a lovely chat about writing, illustrating and baking for Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family on The Storied Recipe Podcast with Becky Hadeed. We chatted about family, food and memories... Hope you can check it out!

(photo by The Storied Recipe Podcast)

Sculpture...

I recently participated in Downtown is Pawsome, Downtown Albany Business Improvement District's public art exhibition of ten painted Nipper dog statues! Mine is called 'Bloomie', and he's painted with flowers inspired by the melting pot of cultures that make up our Capital Region.

'Bloomie' is currently on display indoors until Spring at the Albany Firefighters Museum in Albany, NY.

Here's a little montage of the painting process, step by step...

Mural...

I was honored to participate in Albany, New York's Capital Walls project, a partnership between the Albany Center Gallery, the Albany Parking Authority, and the Albany BARN. Capital Walls seeks to promote art and artists by funding public art in urban spaces. 

My mural, 'Geraldine's Reverie' explores what it means to me to be an artist – that is, the freedom of expression that we all have as children as we play, sing, dance, create stories and explore the world with no preconceived notions and no fear of judgement. Check it out if you're on Broadway in Albany!

See photos of the mural in progress here!

Book Extras...

Want to learn more about the book One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia

Check out oneplasticbag.com for teacher resources, links and more. You can even buy the recycled plastic purses from the book!

Book Launch

BOTTLE TOPS: The Art of El Anatsui is out in the world!!!

Please join me and the book's author Alison Goldberg for our official book launch! We'll have a story-time, a little show-and-tell, and some light refreshments... and of course a book signing! Hope to see you there!

Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 1:30pm at The Little Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY,

Opening Festivities

Please join me for Collage Day at the Carle, a day of story times, gallery talks and book signings to kick off Celebrating Collage: A 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.

Saturday, June 25, 2022 from 11am-4pm. Free with Museum admission.

Gallery Talk

Please join me, along with fellow illustrators Vanessa Brantley Newton and Bryan Collier, as we discuss our collage artworks exhibited in Celebrating Collage: A 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA!

Saturday, June 25, 2022 from 11:30am-12:15pm. Free with Museum admission.

Story Time

I'll be reading my first authored-illustrated book Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family, at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA!

Saturday, June 25, 2022 from 2-2:30pm. Free with Museum admission.

Book Signing

Please join me for a book signing! As part of the festivities during Celebrating Collage: A 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA, I'll be signing a handful of my books represented in the museum exhibition.

Saturday, June 25, 2022 from 2:30-3pm. Free with Museum admission.

Art Show

I'm honored to be one of 20 artists participating in Celebrating Collage: A 20th Anniversary Exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. If you're a fan of collage picture book art, hope you can check it out! 

The show runs from June 25 - December 31, 2022. 

Virtual Visit

Join me on Zoom as I share my writing and illustrating process for Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family. I'll be presenting my sketches, paintings, collages and screen-prints that became the ingredients for my first authored-illustrated book!

Sunday, October 24th, 2021 from 3pm-4pm.

Hosted by the North Chatham Free Library.

Book Festival

I'm excited to participate in the first ever annual Saratoga Book Festival! Join me for a talk and workshop inspired by my first authored-illustrated book: Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family.

Saturday, October 16th, 2021 from 10am-11am at the Saratoga Springs Public Library, Susman Room.

Book Signing

As part of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of The Open Door Gallery, and in hopes of returning life towards normal, I'll be signing two of my recent books in-person: Bedtime for Sweet Creatures and Off to See the Sea, both written by Nikki Grimes and published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. Stop on by and say Hi!

Sunday, July 25, 2021 from 11:30am-1pm at The Open Door Bookstore, Schenectady, NY.

Virtual Story-time

Join me and author Nikki Grimes as we celebrate our newest book, Off to See the Sea, published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Brave & Kind Bookshop will be hosting this event; a virtual story-time and illustration demo!

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 12pm (Eastern Time) on Zoom.

Virtual Book Launch

Join me with author Nikki Grimes at our virtual book launch party for Off to See the Sea, hosted by Books of Wonder!

Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, Off to See the Sea is an imagination-fueled bath-time adventure, a follow-up book to Bedtime for Sweet Creatures.

Sunday, January 10th, 2021 at 3pm (EST) on CrowdCast.

Book Panel

Join me for an educator's webinar hosted by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History & Culture, exploring the road to freedom during the antebellum period for African-American runaways as portrayed in children's literature.

I'll be talking with authors Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerdine Nolen, about our respective books reflecting enslaves people's narratives.

Wednesday, December 9, 2020 from 4-5:30pm. (Eastern Standard Time)

Virtual Story Time

Join me for a Bedtime for Sweet Creatures Story time and Q&A hosted by the Schenectady County Public Library!

Learn more about this imagination-fueled journey to bedtime, written by Nikki Grimes and published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky in this review.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020 at 4pm. (Eastern Standard Time).

Art Show

I'm honored to be participating in Engage: Artists in Visual Dialogue, an exhibition responding to the present moment, celebrates diverse heritages, and envisions new futures. 

You can visit in-person, with socially distant precautions at the Esther Massry Gallery at The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY.

The show will run from October 9 to November 21, 2020. 

Presentation

Please join me and author-illustrator Adrienne Wright for The Role of Illustrations in Picture Books: An Essential Layer of Storytelling with CABA Winners, presented by the African Studies Association.

I'll be discussing my process of creating the picture book Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Familyas part of a day of engaging professional development sessions designed for K-12 educators teaching about Africa!

Saturday, November 14, 2020 at 1pm (Eastern Standard Time)

Virtual Story Time

I'm honored to be a guest on Well Tempered Media's Zoom series! Please join me as I read, Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family, and we chat about cacao and chocolate!

Tuesday, July 14 at 12:30pm (Eastern Standard Time)

Book Panel

Join me for my very first live interview in French, as I participate in a panel on the Aperos Thematiques Facebook Page. We'll be chatting about books, art, recycling, language and more. And I'll read an excerpt from One Plastic Bag in French: Un Sac Plastique!

Thursday, July 9 at 11:30am (Eastern Standard Time)

P.S. You can find many e-books in French on YouScribe.

If you live on the African continent, Un Sac Plastique and Tantoh le Fermier are also available! 

Virtual Story Time

Join me as I read Bedtime for Sweet Creatures by Nikki Grimes, published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for the Reginald F. Lewis Museum's Virtual Storytime Series.

Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 1pm. (Eastern Standard Time).

You can watch on Reginald F. Lewis's Youtube channel!

Instagram Live Story Time

Join me as I read Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Familymy first authored-illustrated picture book!

Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 4pm (Eastern Standard Time) on Instagram Live!

Open Studio

Please join me as I lead three sessions as Artist-in-Residence in the Art Studio at The Hyde Collection! We will be exploring the artwork of artist Dox Thrash, inspired by his mastery of form, line and shadow during The Hyde Collection's upcoming show of Thrash's work.

(image: City Plevins, watercolor by Dox Thrash, photo by Dolan Maxwell)

CANCELED: Saturday March 14, 2020 from 10:30am - 1:00pm at The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY.

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