Friday, August 31, 2012

Dickens

The exhibit is up and looks great, thanks to Susan Kart, Yonkers Riverfront Gallery Curator and Emalyne Feitshans, (student at Sarah Lawrence College and an artist herself) both worked tirelessly on the aesthetics of the exhibit right down to the bookmarks with the event day schedules and book displays. The library: Susan Thaler, Branch Mgr., Steve Force, Director, James Hackett, The Yonkers Public Library Foundation, custodians and staff, have given CBIG a warm welcome. Additional thanks goes out to the Morgan Library and Museum for the images of Dickens at his podium and the facsimile of a page from A Christmas Carol of a ghost encounter with Dickens handwritten notes, Esther Raushenbush Library, Sarah Lawrence College, Pam Horovitz and Hudson River Museum for loaning books and support for the programming.
Meanwhile, here are some great u-tube videos I found while doing the research for this exhibit:

Simon Callow on Dickens as a performer

Ruth Richardson on Dickens and the Workhouse (interesting new info she discovered with scenes of modern day streets that are in his novels)

Ralph Fiennes' reading performance with the ceremony to show how Dickens is honored in the UK: Royal couple Prince Charles and Camilla visit Charles Dickens's grave at Westminster Abbey, Ralph Fiennes reading from Bleak House

animated ghost stories from the Pickwick Papers

A short oral bio on Dickens

An animated bio on Dickens

Dickens' great, great grandson, an actor himself, performs A Christmas Carol excerpt and spcomments on Dickens as a writer. 

How Dickens has influenced our language BBC:


They're fun and interesting!  



Sunday, August 19, 2012

Dickens Exhibit

The artwork is in! Once again I am amazed at the variety of styles, medium and approach to a single topic represented by the exhibition participants for the show Dickens, A Celebration of His Work in Pictures: Illustrations by the Children's Book Illustrators Group. Curating and creating my own artwork for the show has been both a challenge and a labor of love. I'd like to thank the artists for contributing such wonderful work, also to the following people who worked behind the scenes: Susan Kart, Emalyn Feitshans, Susan Thaler, Judith Schwartstein, Diana Ting Delosh, Deborah Cuneo, the Friends of the Yonkers Riverfront Library for funding the exhibit, and to the Day of Dickens guests for their participation. Their support has made this a richer exhibition and truly a celebration of Dickens in this bicentennial year. 
Dickens: A Celebration of His Work in Pictures

Illustrations by the Children’s Book Illustrator Group
Exhibit: August 25 – October 31, 2012
Day of Dickens Event Days: September 13 and October 13
Yonkers Riverfront Library
One Larkin Center, Yonkers NY 10701

About the Collaborators:
The Children’s Book Illustrator Group www.cbig-nyc.com
CBIG was formed in 1987 by a group of Brooklyn illustrators. Today our member illustrators and author/illustrators have a wide range of experience including: graphic design, product and surface design, animation, fine art, digital media design and publishing. Our members’ work spans all children’s categories for trade, editorial and educational publishing preschool through young adult. As a small, volunteer run organization our aim is to further our members’ careers within the children’s book industry.

EXHIBITING MEMBERS of the Children’s Book Illustrators Group: Lisa Cinelli, Deborah Cuneo, Diana Ting Delosh, Peggy Dressel, Doris Ettlinger, Laura Goetz, Leeza Hernandez, Mike Herrod, Sara Kahn, H. Ruth Karpes, Lisa Lavoie, Doreen Marts, Donna Miskend, Sawaka Norii, Marilyn Papas, Clare Pernice, Roberta Rivera, Vicky Rubin, Cheryl Taborsky, T. T. Tyler, Wallace West

Art Gallery, Yonkers Riverfront Library www.ypl.org
The mission of the Yonkers Riverfront Library Art Gallery is to present a diverse and balanced schedule of exhibits of high caliber, progressive artwork and related programs not frequently seen in Yonkers or Westchester County, with an emphasis on educational merit. Riverfront Library is located at One Larkin Center, across the street from the Yonkers Train Station (Metro-North Hudson line). Parking is available in the nearby Buena Vista Parking Garage. The library is handicapped accessible.

About the Event Guest Participants:

James Armstrong is a playwright who adapted A Christmas Carol for the Epiphany Theater Company in Saratoga Springs, and adapted everything else Dickens ever wrote in the play Dickens Condensed, in which a troupe of five actors performs fourteen and a half novels in a single hour. James is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and you can keep up with him at http://www.armstrongplays.com/

Elizabeth Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist for the New York Public Library system and creator of the SLJ blog A Fuse #8 Production. She wrote the ALA Editions title Children’s Literary Gems: Choosing and Using Them in Your Literary Career. She reviews regularly for Kirkus and The New York Times and has a picture book out with Harper Collins in Spring 2013 called Giant Dance Party. In Fall of 2013 she and two other bloggers will publish a book for adults on the true stories behind their favorite children’s books with Candlewick Press.

Carol Burrell is Editorial Director for Graphic Universe, the graphic novel division of Lerner Publishing Group. On her own time, she draws a webcomic called SPQR Blues and other art online under the name Klio.

Friends of Dickens, New York   www.thefriendsofdickens.org
A literary, cultural and educational not-for-profit organization devoted to activities that celebrate and disseminate the works of English novelist Charles Dickens. They present staged dramatic readings of the famed author’s works for libraries and service organizations.

Michael Patrick Hearn has remained one of the most respected contemporary writers about children’s literature since the publication of The Annotated Wizard of Oz right after college. His many other books include The Annotated Christmas Carol, The Annotated Huckleberry Finn, The Victorian Fairy Tale Book; Myth, Magic and Mystery; and The Porcelain Cat, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. He has curated numerous exhibitions including the recent Tomi Ungerer show at The Eric Carle Museum. He has lectured on children’s books and their illustration all over the United States and Europe. He teaches The Picture Book in the Simmons Graduate Program in Children’s Literature. He is often interviewed by the media and most recently by BBC4 and TCM. He is currently preparing The Annotated Edgar Allan Poe.

Fred Kaplan, biographer and literary scholar, Fred Kaplan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of Lincoln, the Biography of a Writer (2008), The Singular Mark Twain, A Biography (2003);Gore Vidal, A Biography (1999); Henry James, The Imagination of Genius, A Biography (1992); and Charles Dickens, A Biography (1988). His Thomas Carlyle, A Biography (1983), was a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and was a jury--nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Lincoln, the Biography of a Writer was a Lincoln Prize book. His Sacred Tears: Sentimentality in Victorian Literature (1987), Dickens and Mesmerism: the Hidden Springs of Fiction (1975), and Miracles of Rare Device: The Poet’s Sense of Self in Nineteenth--Century Poetry (1972) are contributions to the study of Romantic and Victorian British literature and culture. He has edited Dickens’ Book of Memoranda (1981), the Norton Critical Editions of Dickens’ Oliver Twist (1993) and Hard Times (2001), and Traveling in Italy with Henry James (1994). His latest book, Visionary American, A Biography of John Quincy Adams is scheduled to be published in 2014. He has held Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, and been a Fellow of the National Humanities Center, the Huntington Library, and the Rockefeller Study Center at Bellagio. He lives in Boothbay, Maine.

Doreen Marts is a children’s book illustrator living in NJ with her husband, two- year old daughter and puggle pup Baxter Blue Cheese, some of Doreen Marts’ clients include: Penguin, Blue Apple Books, Scholastic and Running Press Kids. She is a member of CBIG.

Donna Miskend, CBIG president and exhibition curator, is also an illustrator, textile designer and writer. A member of the Society of Children’s Book Illustrators and Writers (SCBWI), she additionally contributes as a judge for art organizations. Her artwork appears in publications and is exhibited in museums and galleries. www.donnamiskend.com

Mike J. Quinn, actor, educator, writer and retired parole officer living in Riverdale, NY, Mike is the founder and former executive director of The Friends of Dickens New York chapter. Along with his colleagues from the Friends of Dickens, Mr. Quinn frequently presents stated dramatic readings of the famed author’s works for libraries and service organizations.

Catherine Robson is associate professor of English at NYU, where she specializes in nineteenth-century British cultural and literary studies; she has been awarded Fellowships for: Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Fellowship, 2008-09; Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 2004-05; National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2003-04. Dr. Robson is also a long-time faculty member of the Dickens Project.  Author of Men in Wonderland: The Lost Girlhood of the Victorian Gentleman (Princeton UP, 2001) and co-editor of The Victorian Age for the Norton Anthology of English Literature, she has just finished a book on poetry recitation in school (Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem will be published by Princeton UP this October)

T. T. Tyler is an aspiring children’s book author and illustrator who enjoys using a variety of materials to create artwork. She is a member of CBIG and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Wallace West, a New York City-based freelance illustrator and writer, Wallace’s influences span the spectrum from Quentin Blake to Modigliani to Parisian couture. A firm believer in lighthearted living his artwork is rooted in humor, honesty—and a touch of irreverence. Wallace studied with The School of Visual Arts in New York City and Parsons School of Design in Paris and is a member of SCBWI and CBIG http://wallacewest.com/home.html
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Ages: children - adults. Free and open the public.
This exhibition programming is underwritten by the Yonkers Public Library Foundation.
View the schedule of events HERE    and my new blog, Conversations... where I will post interviews with people in the arts. Related to this exhibit are: a conversation with the ARTISTS, Mike J. Quinn, and Fred Kaplan

Monday, August 13, 2012

EXHIBIT INFO

Working on the last details for the Dickens exhibit that opens August 25th at the Yonkers Riverfront Library. I'll have links to the relevant pages including interviews , the schedule and some pictures. Meanwhile, here's a taste of what I've planned: - Dickens, A Celebration In Pictures: Illustrations by the Children's Book Illustrators Group