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I’m a little slow….

After receiving an e-mail last month about speaking with Ashley Bryan at the Auburn Avenue Research Library it wasn’t until I spoke with my friend, Jan Burkins (Literacyhead.com) this morning that I realized I am being honored next year by Ashley Bryan in collaboration with the National Black Arts Festival!

Each year in collaboration with National Black Arts Festival and renowned illustrator Ashley Bryan AARL honors an illustrator for their commitment to the authentic and sensitive representations of people of African descent and Africana culture.

We would be honored to have you (Shadra Strickland) as the 2011 honoree. The event is schedule for Thursday, July 07 at 6:30 p.m. Honorees are asked to facilitate a discussion about their work and participate in a conversation with Ashley Bryan. This event would also include a book signing.

We would also like to exhibit your (Shadra Strickland’s) artwork in our small gallery during the month of July.

Yeah, don’t ask me how I missed that. They had me at “conversation with Ashely Bryan”. WOO HOO!!!!!!! What a tremendous honor!

Many thanks to Ashley Bryan, the National Black Arts Festival, the Auburn Avenue Research Library, (and Jan Burkins for making me go back and read my e-mail slowly). See you in July!

I just returned from a three day trip with the National Black Arts Festival exploring Gullah Culture.

Gullah – one of a group of people of African ancestry that live in the Sea Islands and coastal areas of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida; the creolized language of the Gullahs, based on English and several other African languages and spoken in Sea Island communities. The Gullah language is highly similar to Sierra Leone “Krio”. “Gullah” has been attributed to the Gola, a small tribe on the Sierra Leone-Liberian border where the Mende and Vai territories merge.

This past weekend was Penn Center Heritage Days on St. Helena Island. Dr. Collette Hopkins, director of Education and Public Programs, invited my mother and me to travel with the group as artist in residence. We were transported back in time when we roomed in the Hampton House, built in1904; named after the historic Hampton University.

On Friday I helped prepare and facilitate the Scholastic CSK Award book fair which serviced about 400 children in one day! Every child who attended was free to selected a FREE title from about 30 different CSK Award winning titles. On Saturday, the fair was open to families who were attending the festival. I sold books to many people, including a couple who traveled all the way from Vancouver! I also met, well renowned artist, Jonathan Green, posing here with me in my favorite TEACH THE BABIES tee by coup d’etat BROOKLYN, and holding a blackbird shadow puppet made by Allen with the Center for Puppetry Arts. This year’s featured book fair title was Ashley Bryan’s BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD.

“White Breeze” 1995
Oil on Canvas 48″ x 60″
Jonathan Green
Copyright Jonathan Green Studios, Inc. 1995

Because I was working on Friday and Saturday I wasn’t able to walk the island and visit the local art gallery. I did; however, get to enjoy the fish fry on our first evening there, take in the community parade that was held Saturday morning, and a couple of the acts that performed on the main stage of the festival. The volunteers and staff of NBAF were some of the nicest and highly spirited ladies I have met. We had a ball.