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OA JURY:
CHRIS CONOVER: Chris Conover is a lifelong New Yorker and comes from a family of artists. Though she attended New York’s High School of Music and Art and State University of Buffalo’s Art School, her watercolor technique and illustration style are self taught. The first book she wroteand illustrated, Six Little Ducks, won a Boston Globe/Horn Book honor for illustration. She has continued writing and illustrating ever since. She is proud to have exhibited in “The Original Art” exhibition from it’s very first year. Some of Chris’s most recent books are: The Lion’s Share, in print in five languages; Over the Hills and Far Away, a CBC/IRA Children’s Choice; and The Christmas Bears.
JANE CURLEY: Art historian Jane Curley divides her time between two passions: the Victorian aesthetic era and children’s picture books. She serves on the board of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA, and, as an independent curator, has organized exhibitions there on Chris Van Allsburg, William Steig, Nancy Burkert, and Hardie Gramatky. With Leonard Marcus and Caroline Ward, she curated the museum’s fifth anniversary show, “Children Should Be Seen,” a survey of the best in picture book art over the last fifty years, currently on view at the Los Angeles Public Library. She has also curated exhibitions, lectured, and written articles on aspects of Victorian children’s literature.
ANNE HOPPE: Anne Hoppe started her career in publishing at the Horn Book Magazine and David R. Godine, Publisher. In 1994 she joined HarperCollins Children’s Books, where projects she has edited include the Caldecott Honor book The Stray Dog by Marc Simont and Alice Walker’s bestselling Why War Is Never a Good Idea, illustrated by Stefano Vitale.
WILLIAM LOW: William Low has been an award-winning painter and illustrator for over twenty-three years, and he is the principal in Cobalt Illustration Studios. William wrote and illustrated Old Penn Station. He has also illustrated books by T.A. Barron, Amy Little Sugar, Eve Bunting, and Bruce Edward Hall. William has been teaching painting and illustration for over twenty years. He is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology where he teaches an innovative painting technique on the computer. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts and has conducted lectures and seminars at the Ringling School of Art, Syracuse University, Maryland Institute College of Art, the Society of Illustrators, and the Norman Rockwell Museum.
DAVID SHANNON: David Shannon grew up in Spokane, Washington, and graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1983. He has written and/or illustrated over twenty-five books for children, including the best-selling Good Boy, Fergus!, A Bad Case of Stripes, and the semi-autobiographical No, David!, which received a Caldecott Honor. His newest book is Too Many Toys.
TAEEUN YOO: Taeeun Yoogrew up in Seoul, Korea, in her grandfather’s beautiful garden house – part of a large traditional family of nine. She studied Korean brush painting at Hong Ik University in Korea and moved to New York to attend graduate school in illustration at the School of Visual Arts. Her work has appeared in Cricket and Ladybug magazines and in the New York Times. Her first picture book, The Little Red Fish, was the winner of the 2007 Original Art Founder’s Award. Her second, The Umbrella Queen, by Shirin Yim Bridges, will be published by Greenwillow Books. She lives in New York City and enjoys walking on the streets, listening to street musicians, and drawing on location.
ED YOUNG: Caldecott Medalist Ed Young is the illustrator of over eighty books for children, fifteen of which he has written. Born in Tientsin, China, Ed came to the United States to study architecture but turned instead to his love of art. He finds inspiraion for his work in the philosophy of Chinese painting. A graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Ed has since taught at the Pratt Institute, Yale University, Naropa Institute, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1990 his book Lon Po Po was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He has also received Caldecott honors for The Emperor and the Kite and Seven Blind Mice. He was twice nominated for the esteemed Hans Christian Andersen Medal. He lives in Westchester, New York, with his two daughters and two cats.
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October 16 through November 26, 2008
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With children's book production on the rise came the strengthened interest in the art behind the book. Founded in 1980 by Illustrator and Art Director Dilys Evans, this annual exhibit showcases the original art from the year's best children's books. Selected by a jury of outstanding illustrators, art directors and editors, this year's show features 122 books chosen from 650 entries submitted nationwide.
Celebrating it's twenty-eighth year, the Original Art exhibit is not only an opportunity for artists to display their work, but has become an important event in the New York publishing calendar. It is a favorite destination for Art Directors and Editors seeking new talent as well as for school visits.
Gold and silver medals are awarded to three chosen books representing a wide variety of medium and technique. This year's gold medal winner Suzy Lee was recognized for her distinguished illustrations in Wave, published by Chronicle Books. Silver medals were awarded to Kadir Nelson for his book We Are The Ship and Bill Mayer for All Aboard!
This year's Lifetime Achievement Awards honor Leo and Diane Dillon and William Steig posthumously.
Created in 2005, the Founder's Award celebrates the most current promising new talent. "To have been juried into this exhibition is alone a major achievement and should be celebrated," says Dilys Evans. "To be selected by the award jury as the most promising new talent is a tremendous vote of confidence in an artist's ability and future in the field of children's book illustration." The recipient Tao Nyeu will receive this award for her book Wonder Bear along with the other medal winners during the Opening Reception on Thursday, October 16, 2008.
To purchase tickets for the Opening Reception please call 212-838-2560.
Tickets are $30 for Non-Members and $25 for Members of the Society of Illustrators and are limited.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kate Feirtag
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About the Lifetime Achievement Awards
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"For the past four years, I've had the pleasure of chairing 'the original art' show's lifetime achievement awards at the society of illustrators. These awards were created by past chairs of 'the original art' to honor artists for distinguished achievement in the field of children's book illustration. Nominees must be judged to have a body of work that documents an innovative and pioneering contribution to the field of children's book illustration. Two awards are given annually: one posthumously and one to a living illustrator. This year, it is my honor to announce that Leo and Diane Dillon and William Steig are the winners." James Ransome |
Contemporary: Leo and Diane Dillon
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past recipients:
2005 Maurice Sendak, 2006 Jerry Pinkney, 2007 Ashley Bryan
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Leo Dillon and Diane Sorber were born eleven days apart on opposite coasts - Leo in Brooklyn, New York, and Diane near Los Angeles, California. When they met at Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1954, each already aspired to a life of art. Meeting first through their artwork, each immediately recognized the talent and mastery of the other. Over the years, their
competitive friendship evolved into a lasting marriage and artistic partnership. "In terms of our work, it is virtually impossible to consider us separately," say the Dillons. "On every project we undertake, we hash out ideas together."
The Dillons have produced an incredible variety of drawings and illustrations for prints, book jackets, textbooks, album covers – and over 50 children's books. The approach they take and the media and techniques they use change with each book, yet each
project bears certain distinct hallmarks: clean, precise lines, painstaking attention to detail, warmth of characterization, and innovative use of color. The range of styles they've explored is no less impressive than the quality of each illustration. Among the many honors they have received are a Hugo Award, two back-to-back Caldecott Medals—for Ashanti to Zulu and
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears - five New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, four Boston Globe/Horn Book Awards, two Coretta Scott King Awards, three Coretta Scott King Honors, and the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal.
Leo and Diane Dillon have one son, Lee, who is a painter, sculptor, and jewelry craftsman. They live in Brooklyn, New York.
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Posthumous: William Steig
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past recipients:
2005 Trina Schart Hyman, 2006 Ezra Jack Keats, 2007 Leo Lionni
© 1997 Nancy Crampton |
William Steig (1907-2003). Called the "King of Cartoons" by Newsweek, William Steig carved out dual careers as a highly respected and entertaining cartoonist and as an award-winning, bestselling author and illustrator of children's books. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and spent his childhood in the Bronx. His father, a house painter by trade, dabbled in fine arts, as did his mother, and
he was given his first lessons in painting by his older brother, Irwin. He spent two years at City College, three years at the National Academy, and five days at the Yale School of Fine Arts before dropping out. When his father went broke during the Depression, he put his artistic talents to work to help support the family.
Steig began selling his illustrations to The New Yorker in 1930, eventually producing more than 1,600 drawings and 117 covers. Then at 61, he launched a career in children's books, bringing to that medium the same tongue-in-cheek humor, vivid characterization, distinctive line, and wide-eyed enthusiasm that made his adult work so popular. His third picture book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, won the Caldecott Medal. His first novel, Dominic, won the Christopher Award, and two others, Abel's Island and Doctor De Soto, were designated Newbery Honor Books. His picture book Shrek was the inspiration for the internationally popular Dreamworks Animation films Shrek and Shrek 2.
As James E. Higgins noted in Children's Literature in Education, Steig had the unusual ability to present incidents of wonder and marvel as if they were everyday occurrences. He wrote and illustrated not out of a remembrance of childhood, but out of the essence of childhood-which no adult can afford to give up or to deny.
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OA Committee
Jane Breskin Zalben, Chair, Andrew Glass, Assistant Chair
POSTER ILLUSTRATION:
Suzy Lee, Gold Medal Winner, The Original Art 2008
TITLE: Wave
PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books
The Society of Illustrators recognizes the underwriting support of THE PICTURE BOOK for “The Original Art 2008.” This is The Picture Book’s ninth year of support.
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