Faith Ringgold and Barbara Cooney
© Sue Reichard
Faith Ringgold lives and works in La Jolla, Calif. and Englewood, N.J. Faith is a very gifted painter, writer, teacher, performance artist and sculptor.
Ringgold's art has been exhibited in museums and galleries all over the globe. Some of her work hangs in many collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Art, The Chase Manhattan Bank Collection, The National Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art and The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Faith Ringgold is also a professor and recipient of over 75 awards including 11 honorary doctor of fine arts degrees, and other fellowships and grants.
Tar Beach was Ringgold's first published book. It was published by Random House in 1991 and is considered "a book for children of all ages." Tar Beach has won more than 30 awards including the Caldecott Award and the Coretta Scott King Award for the best illustrated children's book of 1991. The story is based on the story quilt Tar Beach from her series "The Women On A Bridge" of 1988. It is in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum of New York City.
Ringgold has illustrated a total of five children's book including Tar Beach. Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky My Dream of Martin Luther King Talking to Faith Ringgold Dinner At Aunt Connie's House
Please be sure to read her books and enjoy her beautiful illustrations.
Barbara Cooney
Barbara Cooney's books and art are often a reflection of her youth. Barbara grew up on Long Island and spent her childhood summers with her family in Maine. She attended Smith College where she studied art and art history. Barbara's mother was also an artist and encouraged her daughter's passion for art. Barbara knew she wanted to illustrate children's books.
Her first book, Ake and His World, was published in 1940. The following year, King of Wreck Island was published. This is the first book she wrote and illustrated.
Barbara's writing and illustrating career has produced more than 100 books. Two of her books, Chanticleer and the Fox in 1958 and The Ox Cart Man in 1979 have been awarded the Caldecott Medal, the highest honor given for illustration in children's books.
"Of all the books I have done", she says, "Miss Rumphius (Viking,1982), Island Boy (Viking,1988) and Hattie and the Wild Waves are the closest to my heart. "These three books are the closest I will ever come to an autobiography." Just like Miss Rumphius, Barbara has travelled all over the world, settled down by the sea and tries to make the world a more beautiful place.
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