Maya’s Art in the Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit Jan 13th-April 3 at Sun Gallery
Maya will be showing the original art from her books, My Colors, My World, I Know the River Loves Me, Nana’s Big Surprise and Animal Poems of the Iguazu at the Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit at Sun Gallery in Hayward, CA. She will be joined by other talented illustrators such as Carl Angel, Elisa Kleven, Jessel Miller, Paul Tong, Jane Wattenberg, Ashley Wolff and students from Chabot College’s Children’s Illustrators Class. The exhibit will run from January 13th through April 3rd with a book signing and reception scheduled for Saturday, February 20th. Prints of her illustrations will also be available to purchase at the gallery with a portion of the proceeds going to support this non-profit art gallery.
Sun Gallery is located at 1015 “E” Street near downtown Hayward, California. The exhibit is open Wed-Saturday 10:30-4:30 and was designed with schools in mind. A School Tour can be scheduled for $125 per class of 33 students and includes an art project.
ABOUT SUN GALLERY
Hayward’s longest standing non-profit arts organization established its prominent Art Education Program, Gallery Shop, and year-round series of highly respected artistic exhibitions to enrich the cultural life of our community and promote art as the universal language between cultures, income levels and ages. More information about the Gallery, the exhibit and driving directions can be found on their website.
Look forward to seeing you at the opening on February 20th!
Filed under Art Exhibits | Tags: art exhibit, children, illustrations, opening | Comment (0)Two Boys
There are moments that stand out when I visit schools. Moments that stick with me and become part of my stories. There are a number of kids through the years that have never left my side. I can see them still, remember our interactions. I imagine many must be grown up now and I wonder how they’re doing. They’re the ones that remind me the most of myself. Their lesson my lesson, my lesson their lesson. They reflect some aspect of my own experience although it’s not always obvious to me at first.
When I go into schools these days I don’t often get to work with the kids closely. Things are far more assembly oriented now, but any time there’s a chance I still try to make art with kids. Although now it’s not in a classroom but a cafeteria or library, and I’ve got 200 kids instead of 30. It’s definitely a different kind of interaction. But within the parameters I still try to get some of my message across and be fully present with the kids. I know there’s something I understand about being a kid and being stressed out on many different levels. Art served as a great tool for me as a stressed out kid and now I’m old enough to talk about it. What is important to share about art and creativity to me is how it can support kid’s understanding of how to use it as a tool. A tool to process their experiences, create personal reflection and know and empower themselves. When I do get to work with kids, the projects are geared to ground my philosophies which are rooted in my experience as a bi-racial, child of color dealing with a number of serious stressors.
I only have a few moments to provide an opportunity to use art like this so the projects have to be simple and fertile. In these assembly settings I have a current, favorite project. I ask the kids to draw a picture of their self. There are only two requirements. Completely forget you know what you look like and share something about yourself that I cannot see by looking at you. I ask them a few questions to explore what we cannot see when we look at someone. Can you tell who I love by looking at me? Can you tell what scares me? Makes me angry? Where I came from? In my imagination I have huge deer horns. I can feel them, can you see them? I tell them since they don’t know what they look like, they can Continue reading »
