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"I have always thought about my work as serving two purposes. The first is that it is my life’s vocation. The second is that my work is the way I get to speak about interests and passions, the immediacy of drawing and my love of painting. In these works the big search is for order, symmetry, beauty and emotion. These are the core to what things drive my narratives. The printed pages support the notion and desire to reach as many people as I possibly can. Within the pages of the book the illustrations are richer because of its position partnered alongside the text. At its best, each is stronger because of this partnership. This is one way to get to know my work. However, it is a step away from the original art. "Exhibitions set a stage for one to see the works close up and personal, opening up other possibilities of interpretations. Within a museum’s galleries, the strength of the art derives from the fact that it stands alone. This allows the viewer freedom to visually read the narratives. One sees the illustrations through a different lens, in another context which ushers viewers ever so much closer to my private world of picture making. In many ways these venues offer up a second life. Often in these exhibitions thumbnail sketches and working drawings are shown alongside originals, pulling back the curtains on how the art was prepared. This affords an insight on my working process. "It is fascinating to see how the same grouping of objects can look so different in different spaces. The way a museum curator sees my works and their esthetics applied to the manner and style of the installation gives the works new breath." |
CURRENT
Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
January 21 - April 15, 2012
(more info)
UPCOMING
16th Annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture
San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA
May 15, 2012Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI
June 14 - September 9, 2012Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
September 29, 2012 - January 13, 2013Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
African American Museum, Dallas, TX
March - May 2013Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
June - September 2013Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
October 12, 2013 - January 5, 2014

PAST EVENTS/EXHIBITIONS
| 2011 | Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney | Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA |
| 2010 | The Mosaic Project | Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Lancaster, PA |
| 2010 | Drawings From a Story: Illustration by selected Caldecott Medal Winners | Brandywine River Museum, Brandywine, PA |
| 2010 | African-American Journey to Freedom | The Schomberg Center, New York, NY |
| 2009 | Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books | Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
| 2009 | Aesop's Fables and Other Tails | Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL |
| 2009 | Drawing on Stories | Benedict College, Columbia, SC |
| 2008 | Art as a Manuscript: The Illustrations of Jerry Pinkney | University of the Arts College of Art and Desigin, Philadelphia, PA |
| 2008 | Little Black Sambo: Children’s Literature, Race, and a Century of Controversy | Washington University, St. Louis , MO |
| 2007-08 | Aesop's Fables and Other Tails | Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA |
| 2006 | Faraway Places: Children's Book Illustrations | Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI |
| 2006 | Art From The Old African | The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA |
| 2002 | A Sense of Place: The Art of Jerry Pinkney | The Museum Gallery, White Plains Public Library, White Plains, NY |
| 2002 | The World of Jerry Pinkney | The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD |
| 2002 | Historical Themes, Tales and Legends | Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston, MA |
| 2002 | Historical Themes, Tales and Legends | National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, OH |
| 2001 | Historical Themes, Tales and Legends | Dallas African American Museum, Dallas, TX |
| 2001 | Historical Themes, Tales and Legends | Charles H. Wright Museum of African History, Detroit, MI |
| 2000 | Historical Themes, Tales and Legends | Du Sable Museum of African American History, Chicago, IL |
| 1999 | Historical Themes, Tales and Legends | African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA |
| 1999 | Building Bridges: The Art of Jerry Pinkney | Portland Public Library, Portland, OR |
| 1999 | Building Bridges: The Art of Jerry Pinkney | San Francisco Library, San Francisco, CA |
| 1997 | Building Bridges: The Art of Jerry Pinkney | Omaha Children’s Museum, Omaha, NE |
| 1997 | African-Americans in Development of the West | Seagram Gallery, New York, NY |
| 1996 | Building Bridges: The Art of Jerry Pinkney | Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, Pittsburgh, PA |
| 1994 | Jerry Pinkney Narrative Illustration | University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA |
| 1993 | Illustrations of Jerry Pinkney | The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
| 1992 | Jerry Pinkney Personal Visions | Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD |
| 1991 | Jerry Pinkney Retrospective | Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN |
| 1991 | Jerry Pinkney Retrospective | Bethune Hall, University at Buffalo SUNY, Buffalo, NY |
| 1990 | Jerry Pinkney Retrospective | Schomburg Center of Research in Black Culture, New York, NY |
| 1987 | Jerry Pinkney Retrospective | University of Delaware, Newark, DE |
| 1987 | Jerry Pinkney Retrospective | Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA |
| 1983 | Jerry Pinkney Retrospective | Northeastern University, Boston MA |