Draw Me a Story
The Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation Gallery
February 9, 2013 - August 4, 2013
The first art that most children experience is in picture books, and the first reading they do involves reading pictures instead of words. Therefore it’s no surprise that Akron’s school age population can identify an image of Peter, the protagonist of Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day, plodding through a fresh coating of snow in his bright red snow suit. Draw Me a Story celebrates Keats’s legacy and the power of picture books to promote visual literacy and cultural awareness.
After learning the elements of a story on a narrative tour of the Akron Art Museum galleries, second, third and fourth grade students from Leggett Elementary, King Elementary, Glover Elementary and The Lippman School created collaborative classroom picture books in their art classes. The student-artists also corresponded with award-winning picture book author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh, who created a large-scale mural for the exhibition that was inspired by Keats’s work and discussions with the students about their winter experiences.
This exhibition is organized by the Akron Art Museum and made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts with additional support from the Ohio Arts Council, the Robert O. & Annamae Orr Foundation, The Sisler McFawn Foundation, The Burton D. Morgan Foundation and Huntington Bank.