"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, 2012

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI
June 14 - September 9, 2012

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
September 29, 2012 - January 13, 2013

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
African American Museum, Dallas, TX
March - May 2013

Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
June - September 2013

Witness: 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