Charles R. Smith Jr. (Virginia Hamilton Conference)

To paraphrase, Charles R. Smith Jr., in true multicultural literature, every individual grows.  For him, it appears that photography and writing, particularly poetry ("finding the right words, not necessarily fancy or long or rhyming"), is the mode for individual and societal sharing and ultimately, growth.

During his presentation at the 2011 Virginia Hamilton Conference on April 8, he performed his poems and shared his life; As a child, "I turned to books ... to help me fly" (from track 10 on About Me) and became inspired by various artistic and noteworthy African Americans (see track 11 from Inspirations), including Ms. Nikki Giovanni, who was also a speaker at the conference.

He is a phenomenal performer and witty wordsmith (you'll get his flavor as you listen to track fifteen "I Am a Poet - a Capella"), but I wish I could have recorded and put his presentation on Youtube.  When I got Portrait of a Poet signed (only MP3 downloads are available on Amazon), I did ask if he had already put performances on Youtube.  He answered that he hadn't but that they may have been posted by others.  While I haven't found such poem performance videos, here is a link to Simon and Schuster's Youtube video where he discusses his 2010 Coretta Scott King Award (illustration) book My People.  You can also view a still of the performance in my photo collection below.

One of his last thoughts was, "We are all made up of a variety of things that make us human beings."
 
Thank you for your work, Mr. Smith.

Give the Gift: Bond with Your Baby (Video)

One-on-one book sharing time with baby is a miracle.

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.”

Digital Pop-Up Book No. 1 (Video)

Page 123 of Tony DiTerlizzi's Search for Wondla in augmented reality. 

I'm in WondLa indeed ...

Patricia Polacco, the Ultimate Storyteller (Video)

Patricia Polacco is an illustrator, writer, and storyteller who captivated the Mazza 2010 Summer Institute audience with personal, historical vignettes.  She touched the audience to tears with her themes of loving relationships, abounding beauty, learning and educational challenges, and heroism.

Below is Ms. Polacco sharing her family's four (or more?) generational "keeping quilt."

Image from Amazon.  Notice the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the upper right hand corner.