Kevin Hawkes, Mazza Medallion Winner

The Mazza Museum awards the Mazza Medallion for excellence in artistic diversity.

Jerry Mallett introduced the breadth of Kevin Hawkes' work as well as followed his consistent use of shadow and acrylics. One of Hawkes’ previous awards includes the 1994 Golden Kite Award for By the Light of the Halloween Moon, published in 1993. Mallett noticed the significance of the award because it is voted on by other artists.

In his acceptance speech, Hawkes acknowledged the Mazza as “the center for creativity and inspiration.” He compared one’s handwriting to one's art style; one’s personality comes through though the media may be different. He also mentioned some of his other (diverse) artistic interests including rock carving and, at one time, hand-knotting a rug.

Carin Berger, Author/Illustrator

“[I think about] when it should be words and when it should be pictures.”

During the Mazza Museum: International Art from Picturebooks Fall Weekend Conference, graphic designer Carin Berger talked about the book as an art object, noting the elements of design in each facet of the book -- book jacket, endpapers, typography ...

As a collage (and stencil) artist, she referred to the “resonance” and mystery from using ephemera and mentioned her love of antique Sears catalogs which have block print art. She demonstrated this influence by showing digital collage/collage illustrations from her work on Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems written by Jack Prelutsky. She also noted that this work came at a time when she was thinking about the “exquisite corpse” method and how to “collage the collage.” 

Her newest artistic endeavor involves a diorama technique, which worries her only because of the storage issues in her small New York apartment. Her creative interest also reaches toward a space outside of the book world and into the performance art arena.

When asked about creative blocks, she answered that this was part of the process, “Every process has an arc.”