Weiss Center presents Our Children Can Soar-3/11/10-3/31/10

M. Jerry Weiss Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
presents
OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR: A CELEBRATION* ART EXHIBIT
MARCH 11-APRIL 7
AT NJCU
Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery,
Hepburn Hall Rm. 323
2039 Kennedy Boulevard
Jersey City, NJ 07302

The original art work for the book, Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change, (Bloomsbury USA) (Juv. 920 .C771o) by Michelle Cook, will be on display. Featured artists are : James Ransome, AG Ford, Bryan Collier, Charlotte Riley-Webb, Cozbi A. Cabrera, Leo and Diane Dillon, E. B. Lewis, Eric Velasquez, Frank Morrison, Pat Cummings, R. Gregory Christie, and Shadra Strickland. The book was inspired by the 2008 presidential campaign slogan, “Rosa sat so Martin could march. Martin marched so Barack could run Barack ran so our children can soar.” It pays homage to the African-Americans, who paved the way for the civil rights movement,

Gallery hours:
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday.
Admission is free

Scheduled Events
All events take place in the Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, Hepburn Hall Rm. 323
2039 Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07302

Opening Reception featuring James Ransome
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on
Thursday, March 11,
Features an address by James Ransome, one of the book’s 13 illustrators. (Copies of the books autographed by all the book’s 13 artists will be available for silent auction at the opening reception on March 11.)

Eric Velasquez
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Pat Cummings
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Additional Author /Illustrator Event
Ted and Betsy Lewin
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010


For further information about the NJCU exhibit call Dr. Allan De Fina, interim dean of NJCU’s Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe College of Education, at (201)200-2101.

*Winner NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature For Children http://www.naacpimageawards.net/41/winners/

Children's Literature Art Events at NJCU

Mach 1-April 1, 2010
Make Believe Group Exhibit: Fairy Tale Archetypes in Contemporary Culture
Place:Visual Arts Gallery, 100 Culver Avenue in Jersey City.
Gallery hours are 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Curated by Debra Jenks, “Make Believe” will feature works by artists who appropriate or reference folk or fairy tales. The exhibit presents numerous takes on the subject, from the imaginary and fantastic to personal narratives and social commentary. Exhibiting artists include Aliza Augustine, Susan Breitsch, Jason Covert, Michelle Handelman, Wendy Hirschberg, Sarah Julig, Yuliya Lanina, Jadina Lilien, Ken Madore, Norma Markley, Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Don Porcella, Roxanne Wolanczyk, and Jeanne Wilkinson.The exhibit is one in a series of campus events held in commemoration of “Women’s History Month.”

An opening reception will be held 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Monday, March 1. Admission is free and open to the community. For further information call Dr. Midori Yoshimoto, NJCU director of campus galleries, at (201)200-3246.


March 11-30, 2010,
M. Jerry Weiss Center Illustrators’ Gallery Event
Place: Gilligan Student's Union Art Gallery (GSUB -Room 111)

Bloomsbury Publishers has graciously offered to “loan” NJCU the art work for its newly published book, Our Children Can Soar. The book features the work of twelve internationally-acclaimed African-American and minority illustrators and traces the struggle for civil rights in the US.

Some events include:
March 23, 2010: Lecture featuring Ted and Betsy Lewin
April 15, 2010: Lecture featuring Mel Glenn, poet for young adults

The “kick-off”event will be an evening reception (tickets will be available for purchase) during the week of Spring Break (March 8-14) and the art show will continue for two weeks thereafter.

During that period, NJCU will host several illustrators and a historian to discuss the struggle for civil rights from the earliest days of the nation to President Obama’s victory. The show will be housed in the Gilligan Student Union Art Gallery and will be open to the public, to students, faculty, and local public schools.