Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books

What if crayons refused to color? Can you know everything about the Earth? What’s the best way to get a kite out of a tree? All these questions can be answered through the pictures and books of artist, author, and illustrator Oliver Jeffers. In Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books, visitors will encounter original artworks from Jeffers’s beloved titles: The Day the Crayons Quit, Stuck, Here We Are, and more.

The Akron Art Museum has a long tradition of exhibiting works by children’s book illustrators. With examples ranging from Ed Emberley to Ezra Jack Keats to Kadir Nelson and Leo and Diane Dillon, visitors to the Museum have enjoyed seeing pictures from the page on gallery walls. After all, illustrations in books are often our first exposure to art. We flip pages with chubby hands as children, listening to the words being read and peering into the world the illustrator has drawn for us. These pictures help us begin to make sense of the world and envision what lies beyond our homes, our towns, and our imaginations.

In this exhibition, visitors can view original artworks from some of their favorite tales by Jeffers, as well as sketches, plans, and other objects from the creative journey that eventually becomes a picture book. Enjoy paging through copies of books or reading them together in the space.

Born in Australia and raised in Northern Ireland, Oliver Jeffers is an award-winning artist, illustrator, and writer whose distinctive paintings have been exhibited in prestigious institutions worldwide. He has sold more than ten million picture books, including Here We Are, This Moose Belongs to Me, and Once Upon an Alphabet. His wildly popular book The Day the Crayons Quit, and its sequel, The Day the Crayons Came Home, were both New York Times No. 1 bestsellers.