{"id":580,"date":"2018-08-24T16:35:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T16:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/?p=580"},"modified":"2021-08-16T00:38:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T00:38:57","slug":"painter-and-poet-the-art-of-ashley-bryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/2018\/08\/24\/painter-and-poet-the-art-of-ashley-bryan\/","title":{"rendered":"Painter and Poet: The Art of Ashley Bryan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ashley Bryan<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Let It Shine Book<\/em> book cover and artwork (2008)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Painter and Poet: The Art of Ashley Bryan<\/i> is an extraordinary exhibit* at the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) in Portland, Maine, honoring the work of 2012 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement winner Ashley Bryan. The exhibit consists of original artwork from 14 of Bryan’s books, including two that won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration: Let It Shine (2008) and Beautiful Blackbird (2004), <\/i>as well as several CSK Honor award-winning books, including Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life (2017) <\/i>and Ashley Bryan\u2019s ABC of African American Poetry (1998).<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beautiful Blackbird<\/em> book cover and artwork (2004)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Bryan, a renowned artist, writer, and storyteller, rhythm is essential to life, and this idea carries into the art he creates for every book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His use of vibrant colors along with rich language gives each book a sense of movement. His illustrations offer a visual lyricism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A perfect complement to this exhibition is the addition of a film in Bryan’s own expressive voice describing his childhood and the influences that led him to a life of sharing African American spirituals, poetry, and stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Freedom Over Me<\/em> book cover and artwork (2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To make the experience even better is the addition of colorful, moveable seating at the perfect height for children, set among wooden bins filled with his books at their fingertips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One could spend quite a bit of time just sitting, slowly turning the pages of his books while listening to his familiar cadence and resonant voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashley Bryan creates beautiful books that beg to be read aloud and shared over and over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*This exhibition, organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, is on view through November 25, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos of Ashley Bryan’s art were<\/em> ta<\/em>ken at the exhibit with permission from the museum.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louise Capizzo is a Teen and Youth Services Librarian for a public library in Scarborough, ME. A member of the CSK Technology Committee, Louise is also a blogger for The Nonfiction Detectives<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Painter and Poet: The Art of Ashley Bryan is an extraordinary exhibit* at the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) in Portland, Maine, honoring the work of 2012 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement winner Ashley Bryan. The exhibit consists of original artwork from 14 of Bryan’s books, including two that won the Coretta Scott King Award for … Continue reading Painter and Poet: The Art of Ashley Bryan<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,21,8],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exhibit","category-illustrator-award","category-past-events-and-important-people","tag-ashley-bryan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olos.ala.org\/csk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}