Storytime & Book Signing: Jennifer Mack-Watkins, "You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce" at Sulfur Studios
Schedule
Sat Jun 10 2023 at 02:00 pm
Location
Sulfur Studios: A Project of Arts Southeast | Savannah, GA
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Join us for a Storytime & Book Signing event with artist Jennifer Mack-Watkins, the illustrator of "You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce," in conjunction with her Solo Exhibition "Children of the Sun: In Orbit" in our Main Gallery! All ages welcome.
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About the Book: “You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce” Written by Carmella van Fleet & Chiquita Mullins Lee, Illustrated by Jennifer Mack-Watkins. Published by Penguin Random House
A picture book biography about the barber shop of woodcarver Elijah Pierce, recipient of the highest folk art honor in the United States.
“Creeeeak!” goes the screen door to self-taught artist Elijah Pierce’s barbershop art studio. A young boy walks in for an ordinary haircut and walks out having discovered a lifetime of art. Mr. Pierce’s wood carvings are in every corner of the small studio. There are animals, scenes from his life, and those detailing the socio-political world around him. It’s this collection of work that will eventually win Elijah the National Heritage Fellowship in 1982 just two years before his death. But the young boy visiting the shop in the 1970s doesn’t know that yet. All he knows is: “You gotta meet Mr. Pierce!”
Based on the true story of Elijah Pierce and his community barber shop in Columbus, Ohio, this picture book includes cleverly collaged museum-sourced photos of his art and informative backmatter about his life. With engaging text by Pierce to the Soul! playwright Chiquita Mullins-Lee and Christopher Award-winning author Carmella Van Vleet, it’s illustrated with striking Japanese woodblock by Jennifer Mack-Watkins. A new addition to vital Black art history!
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About the Exhibition:
Children of the Sun: In Orbit is an extension of Mack-Watkins’ Children of the Sun series, which explores the idea of children being the center of their own universes, allowing them to imagine their own futures without limitations. In this exhibition in the Main Gallery at Sulfur Studios from May 5th - June 24th, 2023, the work will be seen for the first time publicly since Mack-Watkins’ solo exhibition in 2021 at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Brattleboro, Vermont.
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About the Artist:
Jennifer Mack-Watkins is a contemporary visual artist and illustrator whose artistic aesthetic draws from a confluence of reference points, most of which include her Japanese Mokuhanga printmaking techniques and her culturally rich Southern roots. Mack-Watkins’ work investigates societal conformities that isolate individuals to be confined to fit into a space. This space includes the complexities of being a woman, beauty images, relationships, body image, power, and gender roles.
Mack-Watkins holds a BA in Studio Arts from Morris Brown College, an MAT from Tufts University, and an MFA in Printmaking from Pratt Institute. She is on the Board of Trustees at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center. Her work has been acquired at prominent institutions including The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Library of Congress, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Getty Archives, and she has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, and Essence. Mack-Watkins is a recipient of the 2022 National Black Arts Festival Fund, a Rush Arts Philanthropic 20th Anniversary Portfolio selected artist, and a featured artist at the 2022 Schomburg Center Literary Festival.
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To learn more, visit: https://artssoutheast.org/inorbit
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Where is it happening?
Sulfur Studios: A Project of Arts Southeast, 2301 Bull St,Savannah,GA,United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
