SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrator's Show!

     As some of you know, I recently took on the role of Illustrators' Coordinator for my region of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators), Southern Breeze. As the first event in this new role, I've created the 1st Annual SCBWI Southern Breeze Children's Book Illustrator's Show! (Your invite is HERE!)
     Of course, before it could happen, we had to actually hang the show. My wonderful, awesomest, fantabuloso friend Liz Conrad helped hang it. Without her, I'd still be curled into a small non-communicative ball somewhere. Neither of us had ever done anything like hang an art show before (remember, we work in books), so we had to figure out a method.

     First, we leaned all the art against the gallery wall (did I mention the show is in a great space in our local independent children's book store, Little Shop of Stories' awesome new location?). We arranged the art trying to mix art styles, medias, frames, etc. That took a while.
     Once we had that figured out, we laid the art on the floor in the arrangement we hoped to duplicate on the wall. (See above.)
     Then we started the hard part, actually hanging the art. Liz bought a great laser level for her hubbie (sorry Rick, the package may be a little ripped up) which became our lifesaver. See Liz with her new toy:
     One by one, we measured and hung each piece. This was tricky. We measured, and marked, and nailed, and leveled. And then we did it all over again for the next piece, and the next piece, and so on...
     Know what happens when two right brained thinkers (whose left brain's have shrunk to the size of prunes from disuse) try to do math? It ain't pretty.
     Hey all you budding artists out there who think you will never use math - trust me, you will!
     Anyhow, the show slowly came to life and I have to say it is stunning. Truly. Styles range from oil paints to pastels, digital to cut paper. Looks go from young and colorful, to mature and deep. All the pieces are already published in currently available picture books which will sit on the stools in front of their corresponding art. Here it is almost finished (two artist's work aren't up yet in this pic).

     Opening night is this Friday during the Decatur Arts Festival opening night ArtWalk I can't wait (and I hope to have recovered by then). (I'll post the actual invite with the list of participating artists next.)