Major Exhibition Premieres Jan. 27 - Mar. 6, 2014, at McDaniel College Highlighting Illustrations from Children's Picture Books

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The exhibition focuses on the themes of cultural diversity and artistry.

Westminster, MD (PRWEB) November 29, 2013

"Beyond Words: The Artistry of Illustrated Children’s Books," a major exhibition highlighting illustrations from children’s picture books, premieres at McDaniel College. The exhibition runs Monday, January 27 – Thursday, March 6, 2014, in McDaniel’s Rice Gallery, Peterson Hall, at 2 College Hill, Westminster, Md.

More than 35 pieces of original art by notable children’s book illustrators are featured, including winners of the Caldecott Medal and Honor Books. Among the artists are Marcia Brown, ("Puss in Boots"), Eric Carle (praying mantis as in "The Very Quiet Cricket"), Ezra Jack Keats ("The Snowy Day"), Tomie dePaola ("Strega Nona Takes a Vacation"), Jerry Pinkney ("More Tales of Uncle Remus"), David Wiesner ("Flotsam"), Mo Willems ("Knuffle Bunny Too" and "Don’t Let the Pigeon Finish This Activity Book!"), as well as 1999 McDaniel alumna Jessica Boehman ("Bedtime Stories"), and others. *See full list below.

Types of media represented are watercolor, woodcut, charcoal, die cut, pen and ink, paper collage, tissue paper, acrylic and gouache.

Curated by Robert Lemieux, associate professor of communication and cinema at McDaniel, and designed by graduate students at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, D.C., with professional assistance from the National Gallery of Art, artwork is on loan from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, R. Michelson Galleries, and the de Grummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi, in addition to private collections. The exhibition will travel to the Oddfellows Gallery, Hattiesburg, Miss., to coincide with the annual Children’s Book Festival, April 9 – 11, 2014.

"The exhibition focuses on the themes of cultural diversity and artistry," Lemieux said. "By emphasizing diversity, it allows us to highlight the broad appeal of children’s books. It is important for children to see themselves in these characters. Additionally, since many of the artists are Caldecott Medal and Caldecott Honor recipients, artistry becomes an obvious focus [of the exhibition]."

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Special hours for Rice Gallery during the exhibition are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Thursday, 9:30 a.m. – 8 p.m., and Saturday, noon – 5 p.m. The gallery is also open on Sunday, February 9, 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., in conjunction with "Sunday Brunch on the Hill" featuring a brunch buffet with live music in Englar Dining Hall located in Decker College Center. (Cost for the brunch is $13 per person, or $9 per person without an alcoholic beverage, and free for children 6-years-old and under.)

For more information about "Beyond Words: The Artistry of Illustrated Children’s Books," call 410-857-2290. (Contact the Rice Gallery at 410-857-2595 to arrange school or group tours.) Visit http://www.mcdaniel.edu for more information about McDaniel College.

"Beyond Words: The Artistry of Illustrated Children’s Books" is made possible by the Abbe Family Trust, Carroll County Arts Council, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Charitable Trust, Lavin Family Fund and the Susan and Tom Zirpoli Fund.

Illustrators featured in "Beyond Words: The Artistry of Illustrated Children’s Books" include:

Adrienne Adams
Mary Azarian
Jessica Boehman
Kathryn Brown
Marcia Brown
Ashley Bryan
Eric Carle
Raul Colon
Richard Cuffari
Tomie dePaolo
Tony DiTerlizzi
Jules Feiffer
Tibor Gergely
Mordicai Gerstein
Hardie Gramatky
Catherine Greenaway
Karla Gudeon
Ezra Jack Keats
E.B. Lewis
Petra Mathers
Barbara McClintock
Willy Pogany
Jerry Pinkney
Alice Provensen
Chris Raschka
Charles Santore
Simms Taback
Neil Waldman
David Wiesner
Mo Willems
Paul O. Zelinsky

McDaniel College, recognized nationally among 40 "Colleges That Change Lives" and U.S. News top-tier liberal arts colleges, is a four-year private college of the liberal arts and sciences offering more than 70 undergraduate programs of study, including dual and student-designed majors, plus 25 highly regarded graduate programs. Its hallmark faculty-student collaborations in research,teaching and mentoring plus hundreds of leadership and service opportunities enrich a lively learning experience that is rooted in a personalized interdisciplinary and global curriculum. Innovative January courses take students to points all over the world while McDaniel’s degree-granting European campus offers a unique opportunity for international study at the only American university in Budapest, Hungary. A diverse and close-knit community of 1,600 undergraduates and 1,560 part-time graduate students, McDaniel also boasts a spectacular 160-acre hilltop campus in Westminster, Md., an hour or less from Baltimore, D.C., the Chesapeake Bay, an Amtrak station and BWI international airport.

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