Center Art Gallery
Spoelhof College Center
3201 Burton Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI  49546
(616) 526-6271
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

Visual Stories
The Artwork of James Ransome

March 26 - April 28, 2007

From March 26 to April 28, the Center Art Gallery at Calvin College presents Visual Stories, The Artwork of James Ransome. The exhibition features over 50 original works of art by African American artist and children's book illustrator, James Ransome. In addition to the paintings, Ransome has included three "dummy books" and a sketchbook in the exhibition. These additional pieces help the viewer understand the creative process that the artist undertakes, while working with text for the children's books.

In the foreword to the 2003 exhibition catalog, James Ransome, The Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration, Joyce Bickerstaff writes that his "extraordinary paintings are informed by his childhood experiences growing up in the rural South. They eloquently convey his deep understanding and delight in America's rural folk, his passion for children's book illustration as a form of fine art, his love of history, and his deep reverence for the black struggle for justice and equality. A delicate realism pervades his pictures, which depict periods from African American enslavement through the era of Jim Crow."

James Ransome is a member of the Society of American Illustrators, and has won the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and the IBBY Honor Award for his book The Creation, and the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration for Uncle Jed's Barbershop. His work has been featured on PBS's Storytime and Reading Rainbow. In addition to numerous other awards, he also received the NAACP Image Award for Illustration in 1999 for Let My People Go. James has work in a number of private and public collections, and currently lives and works in upstate New York.

Reception and Book Signing, Thursday, April 26 from 7-9pm
Center Art Gallery
(Books available for purchase)

The barrier-free Center Art Gallery, located on the lower level of the Spoelhof College Center, is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday. There is no admission charge.

CONTACT
Joel Zwart, Director of Exhibitions
(616) 526-6271
jhz2@calvin.edu
www.calvin.edu/centerartgallery