Children’s book illustrations exhibition opening at Woodson Art Museum
Radiating joy, artist Christian Robinson’s playful children’s book illustrations, featured in an exhibition opening at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, candidly address social issues while encouraging kindness to all.
What Might You Do? The Art of Christian Robinson, on view at the Woodson Art Museum Dec. 4 through Feb. 27, 2022, comprises his vibrantly exuberant work in acrylic paint, colored pencil, and collage illustrating 17 books.
Whether depicting a boy’s daydream doodles during a subway ride or the triumphs and travails of a Harlem Renaissance performer’s life, Robinson’s artwork openly addresses social ills –– from making flawed assumptions about others to discrimination based on differences –– all while conveying delight and hope.
Robinson, a Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Illustrator honoree, also is an author, designer, and animator whose joyfully inclusive artworks encourage empathy for others and valuing all.
Raised by his aunt and grandmother with a brother and two cousins in a onebedroom California apartment, drawing was the way Robinson created space for himself and the kind of world he wanted to see. After studying animation at the California Institute of the Arts, he later worked with the Sesame Workshop and Pixar Animation Studios before becoming an illustrator of children’s books.
His picture book Another asks “what if you encountered another perspective, discovered another world, met another you? What might you do?” Robinson’s motivational spark for this story was a desire for children to see themselves refl ected on the page. “As a child, I loved stories in which the main character goes on some magical adventure to a world where anything is possible. Oftentimes, those characters didn’t look like me or come from a community that reflected my own,” Robinson said.
Continuing its commitment to presenting biennial exhibitions of children’s illustrated literature, the Woodson Art Museum scheduled What Might You Do? The Art of Christian Robinson before the summer 2020 protests nationwide highlighted racial justice issues. Robinson’s recent high-profile projects include illustrating The Bench, a children’s book written by Meghan the Duchess of Sussex, partnering with Target for a collection of children’s clothing, books, and home accessories, and illustrating a children’s book about Nina Simone, the prolifi c composer and singer behind “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” among many other songs.
“What Might You Do? The Art of Christian Robinson,” features artwork from 17 books including Milo Imagines the World, Robinson’s most recent collaboration with author Matt de la Peña, and Robinson’s solo projects Another, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2019, and You Matter, a New York Times bestseller.
