Brandywine Museum displays the ‘rainbow of America’ in children’s books

Displaying the “rainbow of America,” the museum in Chadds Ford is exhibiting stories of nature and family through diverse cultural lenses.

Peter Crimmins

October 14, 2023

A detail from “In the home with twelve children were born and raised, where they ate and slept and laughed and loved and grew quite old” by Sophie Blackall, from her book “Farmhouse” (2022). The artist created a large paper cutout dollhouse, and over the course of the story she switched out objects to show the house slowly deteriorating over time. (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

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When Shadra Strickland approached eight artists to contribute more than 75 illustrations to the Brandywine Museum’s new exhibition, “Rooted: Family and Nature in Contemporary Children’s Literature,” there was no hesitation.

“As soon as you say, ‘Please show at the Brandywine,’ people are: ‘Yes, absolutely!’” she said.

Strickland said professional illustrators hold the Brandywine in high regard for its significant collections of 19th and early 20th century work by N.C. Wyeth and his mentor Howard Pyle.

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“These are the godfathers of illustration,” Strickland said. “Every artist who went to art school cut their teeth on the Wyeth tradition.”

Co-curators Shadra Strickland and Audrey Lewis stand in front a large paper dollhouse Sophie Blackall created to illustrate her 2022 book, “Farmhouse.” (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

Strickland is a professional illustrator based in Baltimore who regularly brings her award-winning children’s books to Philadelphia’s annual African American Children’s Book Fair. The Brandywine asked her to co-curate “Rooted” with its associate curator, Audrey Lewis.

“I wanted to have a partner who would help bring us the best artists,” Lewis said. “We worked together for months, buying books, reading them, sharing our thoughts on them. We finally came to the decision of these eight artists.”

“‘Come here. You need a haircut,’ George said as he cradled a daisy in his hand and clipped off its dry petals” by Frank Morrison. Morrison used oil paints to illustrate Gene Baretta’s 2020 book “The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver,” a rarity in children’s book illustration. (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

The eight artists represent a wide range of styles and cultural backgrounds: from an urban Chinatown (Qing Zhuang’s “Rainbow Shopping”), to the adventures of a suburban Latino father and son (Joe Cepeda’s “Rafa Counts on Papa”), to an Indigenous Asháninka girl in a Peruvian rain forest (Juana Martinez-Neal’s “Zonia’s Rain Forest”), to a Black mother and child spending a rainy day together (Cozbi A. Cabrera’s “Me and Mama”).

“She says hello to her most playful friend,” by Juana Martinez-Neal, from her book “Zonia’s Rain Forest.” (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

Four of the eight featured artists have won the Caldecott Medal, the most prestigious award for illustrated children’s books given by the American Library Association. Two won the medal for their book shown in this exhibition: Cabrera’s “Me & Mama” and Micha Archer’s “Wonder Walkers.”

Strickland and Lewis chose books with universal themes of family and nature, which take on unique cultural perspectives.

“‘Comb hair,’ Mama says again” by Cozbi A. Cabrera, from her book “Me and Mama” (2020) (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

“A story like ‘Me and Mama’ — it really is a mother and a daughter and their day together on a rainy day. I think everyone has experienced that,” Strickland said. “But then you get someone like Juana, who’s doing ‘Zonia’s Rain Forest’ about conservation and this young person in their environment that’s being threatened.”

“She stops to talk with some chatty new neighbors” by Juana Martinez-Neal, from her book “Zonia’s Rain Forest” (2021). For her book set in a Peruvian rain forest, the artist made woodblock prints on paper she made by hand from the bark of banana trees. (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

“As a woman of color I love seeing the rainbow of America, the fabric of America being reflected in children’s books,” she said.

Several illustrations from each book are on display in their original form. That means the works are generally much larger than they appear in print, and viewers are able to see up-close artistic details that can be missed in the published works.

Frank Morrison, for example, paints his illustrations with oil paints, unusual for typical children’s book illustrations. It’s a more labor-intensive process that can achieve subtle texture and color effects. Martinez-Neal makes woodblock prints on paper handmade from the pulp of banana tree bark, a nuance that can be overlooked in the print edition but apropos to the story set in a Peruvian rainforest.

The most dramatic piece is the cluttered, five-foot long paper dollhouse Sophie Blackall made for her book “Farmhouse,” based on the history of the abandoned property she and her husband bought in the Catskills of New York and renovated into an artist’s retreat.

A detail from “In the home with twelve children were born and raised, where they ate and slept and laughed and loved and grew quite old” by Sophie Blackall, from her book “Farmhouse” (2022). The artist created a large paper cutout dollhouse, and over the course of the story she switched out objects to show the house slowly deteriorating over time. (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

Each figure and object in the house is a paper cut-out which Blackall manipulated and photographed to make the images in the book. Over the course of the story about the life of the family who lived there, Blackall swapped out objects to make the house appear to slowly deteriorate over time until it resembles the dilapidated structure she bought.

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“You could just stare at it for hours,” said Lewis.

“You want to touch it,” added Strickland. “It’s behind glass, but with the non-reflective glass it doesn’t look like it. I think a lot of kids are gonna be tempted to put their fingers and noses against that glass.”

The Brandywine is practically inviting those small fingerprints: The framed works are hung slightly lower than is typical for an art gallery, so younger visitors can get a better look.

Professional illustrator Shadra Strickland of Baltimore, MD, (L) was asked by the Brandywine museum to co-curate “Rooted: Family and Nature in Contemporary Children’s Book Illustration” with museum associate curator Audrey Lewis (R). (Peter Crimmins/WHYY)

Visitors who wish to see work by the “godfathers” of American illustration can see pieces by Wyeth and Pyle in the Brandywine’s other galleries, but not in “Rooted.” Lewis wanted the show to be very contemporary: All the works have been published in the last three years. One of them, Qing Zhuang’s “Rainbow Shopping,” was published just six months ago.

“It’s so alive, still,” Lewis said. “It still has a lot of resonance and freshness.”

“Rooted” will be on view until February 28. All of the books featured in the exhibition are available for purchase in the museum gift shop.

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