Nearly 50 years ago, a year after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, as African Americans continued to struggle against ingrained prejudice in America, two librarians began talking about another part of that picture — that no black children’s authors or illustrators had ever won either of the two most prestigious awards in the field, the Newberry and Caldecott awards, which dated to the early 20th century.
Within a year, that initial discussion between Glyndon Flynt Greer and Mabel McKissick led to the creation of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards: a specific honor for African American children’s writers and illustrators, named after King’s widow for her continued efforts to advance civil rights and for her late husband’s historic legacy.
Today, staff at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art say those awards have become some of the most prestigious in children’s literature, given they honor writers and artists who demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and basic human values. And the museum is now recognizing many of those artists in its newest exhibit: “Our Voice: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards.”
The show, which runs through Jan. 27, 2019, includes 100 works of art — a larger number than that of the typical Carle exhibit, according to museum curator Ellen Keiter — from 38 African American illustrators (and one writer/illustrator). It’s the largest and most comprehensive presentation of Coretta Scott King illustrator winners and honorees ever assembled since the illustrator award was established in 1974, Keiter notes.
“We’re literally reaching new heights,” Keiter said with a laugh as she gave a tour of the show late last week and pointed to some examples of the art from the book “Radiant Child,” for which Brooklyn illustrator Javaka Steptoe won the 2017 Coretta Scott Award. The panels were mounted about eight feet up the wall, above two other art samples set at eye level.
“We needed all of our gallery space for this show,” said Keiter.
The exhibit touches on a wealth of subjects from African American history and culture: figures from the fight for equality such as King, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and Sojourner Truth; artistic giants like Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, and Langston Hughes; the grim legacy of slavery; the talented players from the Negro Baseball Leagues of the early and mid 20th century; and day-to-day life, like the celebration of haircuts for young African American boys in “Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut.”
“Crown” is one of the 2018 Coretta Scott King winners, earning an Honor both for its illustrator, Gordon C. James, and its author, Derrick Barnes (the book is also a 2018 Newberry and Caldecott Honor winner). James, who lives in North Carolina, was one of a number of winning illustrators who came to the Carle Museum last weekend to see the new exhibit and talk about their work.
“I didn’t want to be an illustrator,” James, an oil painter, said during a panel discussion. “I wanted to make my art. But eventually I was drawn into this work. I liked the idea of reaching a lot of readers, and doing my art for children … children deserve real art.”
And Ekua Holmes, a Boston artist and director of an art program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, said her collage-based work felt like it would also lend itself well to children’s books. Holmes won the Coretta Scott King illustrator award this year for the collages she designed for “Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets,” a collection of original poetry inspired by the work of poets such as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and 17 others.
“I like shapes and cuts and ephemera,” said Holmes. “And I’ve always loved children’s books. I could never give away the books I got for my son.”
The exhibition, organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature (NCCIL) in Abilene, Texas, features artwork from 100 award-winning books and is presented chronologically, starting with the first book to win a Coretta Scott King illustrator award, a children’s biography of jazz great Ray Charles by Brooklyn artist George Ford, who’s now 92.
Keiter says presenting the art chronologically gives visitors the opportunity to see the work of different generations of black artists, as well as how the materials they used have changed over the years. Some early award-winning books relied more on pencil, charcoal and pen and ink drawings, for instance, as color printing was more expensive in the 1970s and 1980s, she noted.
“Our Voice” also showcases two pairs of father-and-son artists. Jerry Pinkney, who has won 10 Coretta Scott King awards for illustration, is the father of Brian Pinkney, also a Coretta Scott King award winner. Whereas the elder Pinkney (who was also at the Carle last weekend) mixes watercolor, colored pencil and other materials in his paintings, his son creates illustrations via scratchboard, a white board covered in ink from which he cuts out a design, then fills those gaps in with oil pastels.
Another father-son duo is John and Javaka Steptoe. For his 2017 award-winning book, “Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat,” and a 2011 profile of Jimi Hendrix, Javaka Steptoe used scrap wood he found in New York and Seattle, respectively, to create textured collages that he painted and silk-screened. In exhibit notes, Steptoe says he works with collage as a way of keeping in touch with his roots.
“For me, collage is a means of survival. It is how Black folks survived four hundred years of oppression, taking the scraps of life and transforming them into art forms. I want my audience, no matter what their background, to be able to enter into my world and make connections with comparable experiences in their own lives.”
Steptoe’s notes, and those of the other artists in the exhibit, are drawn from audio clips of all the illustrators, which visitors can listen to at two iPads in the gallery. “I think being able to hear these artists talk directly about their work and the books they’ve worked on brings another dimension to the show,” said Keiter.
Given children’s literature, like much of U.S. society, was dominated for many years by whites, Keiter says the Carle Museum is thrilled to partner with the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee to present the work of African American artists in the new show. “Any time we can do something to promote diversity, we want to be involved,” she said.
For more information on “Our Voice” and other exhibits at the Eric Carle Museum, visit carlemuseum.org.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.