Picture Books + Art Gallery = Fun!

In between snowstorms earlier this month, I was the kick-off author at the new "Book Look" children's book author series at ArtSpace Herndon, a community art gallery in northern Virginia.  I've lived in the Washington, D.C. area my entire life and somehow never made it to Herndon--my loss.  I've been missing a welcoming community with a little gem of an arts center.   We engaged in poetry together, sang "We Shall Overcome" (from my new picture book about the song), and did a craft activity. Oh, and I wore pajamas (see photo) because we also read some poems from my no-longer-new book of funny bedtime poems, Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight.And:  we delighted in the current exhibit at the gallery, entitled "Something Blue."  The exhibit features the textile art of 24 quilters--75 pieces of quilt art in all.  The quilts run the gamut from contemporary to traditional.  It was fun to explore the quilts with the children who came to Book Look, and hear their reactions to the striking pieces on display.  "How do they make it look so real?"  "Do you think that glove is soft?"   (One of the quilts features two beaded, but also soft-looking, knit gloves.)  "I like this one!"A children's book event at an art gallery:  great idea.  Thanks to Kwame Alexander--writer, poet, cool dude, and ArtSpace Board member--for extending the invitation to me.  Kwame will be in the author's chair for the next Book Look event on Sunday, March 9, presenting his picture book Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band.  The quilt exhibit will be closed by then, but not to worry, the gallery will have a new exhibit in place--the 2014 Fine Art Photography Exhibit. Herndon awaits you!