Chemers Gallery Exhibit Opens Saturday

I'm getting ready to head to California for the opening reception of the 21st annual Children's Book Illustration exhibit at Chemers Gallery. It's a group show featuring original artwork by 5 contemporary children's book illustrators: E.B. Lewis, Sylvia Long, Chris Sheban, Boris Kulikov, and me. I'm honored to be a part of this amazing lineup of illustrators!
 
So if you're anywhere near Los Angeles, please join us at the gallery on Saturday, December 1, 1:00 to 5:00 pm. And even if you can't make it to California for the exhibit, you can view all the artwork online, here. Just contact Chemers Gallery if you're interested in purchasing any artwork.

A few of the illustrations that will be part of the Chemers Gallery exhibit

Two Museum Events This Weekend

an Arthur Griffin photograph and one of my illustrations from There Goes Ted Williams, on display at the Griffin Museum in Winchester, Massachusetts

I have artwork in two museum exhibits right now, featuring illustrations from my two Red Sox books- Zachary's Ball and There Goes Ted Williams. And I'll be at both museums this weekend!

Several pictures from Zachary's Ball are on display at the Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts. I'll be signing books there today, Saturday, at 2:00 pm. There will be lots of fun baseball-themed activities, and I hear they're going to raffle off a copy of Zachary's Ball signed by me AND Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia!

Tomorrow, Sunday at 3:00 pm I'll be doing a gallery talk at The Griffin Museum in Winchester, Massachusetts, as part of the There Goes Ted Williams exhibit. I was there for the opening reception a couple weeks ago, and it was a wonderful event. I hadn't seen the exhibit before then, and it was so cool to see my illustrations up there with Arthur Griffin's photographs.  That was more of a grownup event (my kids came, but it was after their bedtime so they got very tired...), but tomorrow will be perfect to bring the whole family.

And there's also an amazing Fenway Park exhibit at the Griffin Museum, so if you come to my signing, you can check that out too!

The Fenway Park exhibit, at the Griffin Museum in Winchester

There Goes Ted Williams Art Exhibit Opens Thursday

Just spreading the word about this exhibit I'm really excited about.  If you're anywhere near Winchester, Massachusetts, I hope you can join me at the opening on April 12! Here are the details...

THERE GOES TED WILLIAMS: ARTHUR GRIFFIN AND MATT TAVARES

 

Ted Williams, photographed by Arthur Griffin during his rookie season, 1939

THERE GOES TED WILLIAMS: ARTHUR GRIFFIN AND MATT TAVARES

Opening reception: Thursday, April 12, 7:00-8:30pm
The Griffin Museum of Photography, in Winchester, Mass
Exhibit runs April 5 through May 27, 2012

An exhibit of Matt Tavares's original artwork from his picture book, There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, alongside Arthur Griffin's historic 1939 photographs of Ted Williams, taken during his rookie season with the Red Sox- the first color photographs ever taken of Ted Williams.

Matt Tavares gives a members talk on There Goes Ted Williams on April 12 at 6:15 PM, before the public opening. He also gives a gallery talk and book signing  at the Griffin Museum on April 22 at 3 PM.  

Book Ends of Winchester will be handling book sales at both events.

illustration from There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, by Matt Tavares

 If you're interested, here's a longer post about how this exhibit came to be.

Wenham Museum Exhibit Opens Today

An exhibit called Picture This: Ninety Years of Storybook Art opens today at The Wenham Museum in Wenham, Massachusetts, featuring original artwork by some of the true legends of children's literature, like Tasha Tudor and Leo Lionni, as well as thirteen original illustrations from my books, Zachary's Ball and The Gingerbread Pirates. It's such an honor to be part of this exhibit!

artwork from The Gingerbread Pirates, just before I packed it up to deliver it to the museum

Oddly, of all the illustrators featured in this exhibit, I am the only one who is still alive. I'm not sure if I should feel honored, or concerned... In any case, it certainly made it easy to schedule the book signing!

In conjunction with the exhibit, I will be signing books at the museum on Saturday, April 21 at 2:00 pm. The exhibit will be up from now until May 6. If you're anywhere near Wenham and you like children's books, don't miss it!

Ted Williams, Arthur Griffin, and me...

I've got some very exciting news about my upcoming book, There Goes Ted Williams. But first, a little background...

One day during the 1939 baseball season, acclaimed photographer Arthur Griffin spent a couple hours at Fenway Park, taking pictures of lanky Red Sox rookie, Ted Williams. Griffin took several rolls of pictures using his usual 35mm black and white camera, but he also brought along a new 4"x 5" view camera, because Eastman Kodak had asked him if he would test out their newly-created color film.

These color photos that Griffin took of Ted Williams back in 1939 are some of the most beautiful baseball photographs I've ever seen, and the very first color photographs ever taken of Ted Williams. It's amazing to see him in full color at 20 years old. You can tell why they called him "The Kid".

You my have seen some of these pictures without even realizing it. Remember this image of Ted Williams that graced the cover of Sports Illustrated after he passed away in 2002? This is one of the pictures Arthur Griffin took that day in 1939:

Fast forward to October of 2011. A family friend visited my parents, and brought a gift to pass along to me- two photographs of Ted Williams that had belonged to her husband, a childhood friend of my father's, who passed away recently. They didn't mean much to her, and she thought I might appreciate them, since she knew I had been working on a book about Ted Williams. Here they are:

I've got them up on my studio wall, and I just keep staring at them. Two 11 x 14 color prints, taken by Arthur Griffin that day in 1939, autographed by Arthur Griffin AND by Ted Williams! 

I'm sure she could have gotten a lot of money for these treasures, and I'm blown away that she decided to give them to me. Here's a closer look at each:

I think this one is my favorite, because it captures Ted Williams so well. Even when he's posing with his glove, he's still working on his batting stance.

Or maybe this one is my favorite...

Getting this amazing gift gave me an idea. I was hoping to find somewhere in the Boston area to host a launch party for There Goes Ted Williams. Seeing these pictures made me think that maybe the Arthur Griffin Museum in my hometown, Winchester, Massachusetts would be the perfect place. I could sign copies of my book while people enjoy an exhibit of Arthur Griffin's amazing Ted Williams photographs.

To make a long story slightly less long... I mentioned the idea to Judy Manzo, bookseller extraordinaire and owner of my hometown independent bookstore, Book Ends. She loved the idea, and offered to show an advance copy of the book to the people at the Arthur Griffin Museum, which she did. Their response was so much better than I even hoped for. They don't just want to host a launch party. They want to host an exhibit of Arthur Griffin's 1939 photographs AND my original artwork from my book, There Goes Ted Williams!

So that's the exciting news! I'll have more formal promo materials as the date approaches, but for now, here are the details:

There Goes Ted Williams: Matt Tavares and Arthur Griffin
The Griffin Museum of Photography, in Winchester, Mass
Exhibit will run April 5 through May 27, 2012
Opening reception: Thursday, April 12, 7:00-8:30pm
Artist talk and book signing:  Sunday, April 22, 3:00pm
(signed books will also be available at the opening reception)

Winchester's excellent independent bookstore, Book Ends, will be handling book sales at both events.

I'm really looking forward to this, and I'm so honored to know that my Ted Williams illustrations will be up on the wall with Arther Griffin's photographs. If you're anywhere near Winchester, Mass, I hope to see you at the opening!

illustration from There Goes Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, by Matt Tavares

Children's Book Illustrators exhibit, recap

On Saturday I attended the opening reception of the Children's Book Illustrators exhibit at the Brush Gallery in Lowell, MA. Will Winslow, the curator of the exhibit, did a marvelous job organizing the event. It was a great day.

First there was a panel discussion with a nice big enthusiastic audience, where Will moderated and David Macaulay, Kelly Murphy, and I talked about our work, our creative process, the book business, and whatever else came up.

Then we signed books until there were no more books left to sign, then a reception in the gallery. Christopher Bing missed the panel discussion because he was busy signing copies of his spectacular new version of Little Red Riding Hood down at NEIBA in Providence. But he made it to Lowell in time to sign a bunch of books during the reception. After the reception Will took all the artists and our spouses (or in my case, my entire family) out for a wonderful dinner.

One of the many highlights of the day for me was a surprise guest- my elementary school art teacher, Barbara Gagel. She lives in Santa Fe now, so I was not expecting her to walk into the gallery! Turns out she's friends with the curator and when she heard about the exhibit, she decided to surprise me and come to the opening. She was an amazing teacher who did so much that wasn't necessarily part of her job (like taking me on several trips to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston), and it was really a thrill to have her there. It was also great to have my parents there, and some friends from Candlewick, and other friends and fellow illustrators. What a day!

The exhibit is up until October 24, so if you're anywhere near Lowell, MA, you should check it out.

There wasn't much opportunity for picture-taking (I wish I got some pictures of David Wiesner's artwork from Sector 7 and Christopher Bing's amazing illustrations...), but I did get a few:

 

some of David Macaulay's originals

more David Macaulay

Kelly Murphy's original artwork

I had four pictures in the exhibit- one from Jack's Path of Courage, two from Lady Liberty, and one from Henry Aaron's Dream.

same illustrations from a different angle

me and David Macaulay

Kelly Murphy, David Macaulay, Matt Tavares, Christopher Bing