DICKENS TRAVELS- Dickens, A Celebration In Pictures

Based on the show I curated in 2012 at the Yonkers Riverfront Library, a selection of work travels to Poe Park Visitor Center for Dickens' birthday month. And to celebrate Edgar Allan Poe's birthday in Jan., I will host a  conversation with Michael Patrick Hearn, children's literary scholar, on the relationship between Dickens and Poe, February 14th.

Also scheduled, Clare Pernice, author of Circus Girl, and I will lead an art workshop for kids from PS 246. High Schoolers will join me for a talk about illustrating Dickens, illustrators he chose and illustrators' work from the current exhibit. I will moderate a panel of some of the exhibiting artists and guest Carol Burrell on Feb. 21*. (read my interview with Clare on the Conversations blog, click here and read an interview with Dickens' biographer and author of Visionary American, A Biography of John Quincy Adams, Fred Kaplan on the blog as well.  (*new date)

More events are scheduled. For further information and a link to some extra cool info about Dickens, click here for the CBIG exhibits blog

PLEASE NOTE: SNOW DELAYS OPENING  - February 3 new date 5 - 21, 2015

DICKENS, A CELEBRATION IN PICTURES: ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE CHILDREN'S BOOK ILLUSTRATORS GROUP

exhibiting members:

CLICK on name to view artist's web site

Lisa Cinelli, Diana Ting Delosh, Peggy Dressel, Laura Goetz, Leeza Hernandez, Sara Kahn   Doreen Marts, Donna Miskend, Marilyn Papas, Clare Pernice, Roberta Rivera, Vicky Rubin   Cheryl Taborsky,  T. T. Tyler

Guest Speakers:  CLICK on name to view web site

Michael Patrick Hearn        Fred Kaplan (biographer) 

Carol Burrell (a.k.a Klio, comic artist)

Poe Park Visitors Center Gallery                      Hours:   Tues. - Sat.   8am - 4pm2640 Grand Concourse                                         Exhibit and Events FREE
Bronx, NY 10458

Looking Ahead

After a long hiatus on my 'Conversations...' blog, there's finally a new post with Robert Greer, Artistic Director of The Strindberg Repertory Theatre.

Exhibits Coming up: Selections from the Dickens 2012 exhibit, Dickens: A Celebration in Pictures  will travel to the Poe Park Visitor Center Gallery in Feb. 2015.

Dickens Event Day Sept. 13

The day started with 59 kids in the story time.

Followed by 32 kids in the craft session and an explosion of glitter. This is a substitute photo, there was no time to take a picture!

The calm after the storm. The library staff was amazing - not a spec of glitter anywhere!

Wallace West demonstrating Dickens Character drawing

Wish I had taped the panel discussion!

Panel discussion guests:Betsy Bird, Catherine Robson, Mike J. Quinn 

Carol talks about layout for comic books using Great Expectations text as the theme.

Comic Book Art demo, Carol Burrell a.k.a Klio

Another illustration demo with Wallace 

Wallace West demonstrating his illustration process

  Performance Reading  

Friends of Dickens waiting to perform and Mike J. Quinn 

 

Mike J. Quinn

The next Day of Dickens Event day is October 13!

Click to View Schedule

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elXAdUm781I&feature=player_embedded

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT9V5ppkHUs

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJmV99zcue8

animated ghost stories from the Pickwick Papers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Albbi7nBI&feature=relmfu

A short oral bio on Dickens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTS3J9Otvcg

An animated bio on Dickens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AB9poWDeDs&feature=related

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAh-44KWcGw&feature=related

How Dickens has influenced our language BBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmoY81Jk0CE&feature=related

They're fun and interesting!  

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

COMING SOON

To mark the bicentennial of his birth, opening August 25th and running through October 31st at the Yonkers Riverfront Library Gallery is Charles Dickens, A Celebration Of His Work In Pictures: Illustrations by The Children's Book Illustrator Group. I've curated the show for CBIG and organized two days of events in support of the exhibit A Day Of Dickens  September 13^th that will include the artists’ reception, and A Day Of Dickens October 13^th.

I'm hosting a discussion panel on Dickens and there will be artist demonstrations, craft sessions, talks with Dickens experts, performance readings by The Friends Of Dickens, picture book story hours and a book signing and sale of published works by guests participating in the events and CBIG exhibiting artists. During the exhibit run, check the library for additional related Dickens offerings. I'm hoping to have films and other support material available. All events are free and open to the public, ages 3 and up, great for the whole family.

Look for further information on the exhibit including a detailed schedule on this blog and I'll post it on our new exhibits page for CBIG at 

www.cbig-nycExhibits.blogspot.com. 

Sign up for email notifications on both sites so you don't miss exciting news about CBIG and what I'm up to. Happy 4th of July!

News: CHILDREN'S LITERARY SALON, NYPL

Here's some news about what I'm involved in -
A Conversation with The Children's Book Illustrators Group

Saturday, June 2, 2012, 2 - 3 p.m.

NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, at 42nd Street, Rm. Margaret Liebman Berger Forum (Map and directions)

Join me, President/Exhibition Curator of CBIG and my colleagues: Vicky Rubin, Webmaster/Listserve Manager, Diana Ting Delosh, Communications Officer/Blogzine Manager, Maria Madonna Davidoff, Postcard Designer and Ruth Karpes, Meeting Venue Hostess for a discussion about who we are as a group, where you can see our member's work, our accomplishments and future goals with moderator Elizabeth Bird, Youth Materials Collections Specialist and creator of the children's literary blog A Fuse #8 Production http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production

This program is for adults.

CBIG is a group of 60 illustrator and author/illustrator members with experience in the children's book publishing industry, commercial and fine arts. Visit us at  www.cbig-nyc.com  and see work from participating members at our upcoming exhibits: The Yonkers Riverfront Library Gallery, Yonkers, NY celebrating Charles Dickens opening in August and The Flinn Gallery at the Greenwich Public Library, Greenwich, CT interpreting Mother Goose opening in December. Check back for further details about the exhibits and associated events closer to the dates.