Head of the Class

Last week the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the election of illustrator Jerry Pinkney as one its 220 new members. The Academy recognizes some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders; other nominees this year include Hillary Rodham Clinton, Melinda F. Gates, Clint Eastwood, and Paul McCartney.


Mr. Pinkney was the subject of Norman Rockwell Museum's 2010 exhibition, Witness: The Art of Jerry PInkney, which looked at the artist's long career as a picture book illustrator. I had the great fortune of working on a video for the exhibition−my colleague and I traveled to Pinkney's Croton-on-Hudson studio to film a short documentary, and I was happy to learn about his work. Here is the video:





I think Witness was one of my favorite shows that the Museum has exhibited, and its focus on African-American history served as a nice complement to Norman Rockwell's work. Pinkney was also a pleasure to work with−very down-to-earth and gracious with his time. The talented artist is currently working on adaptations of the classic children's books Puss in Boots and The Tortoise and The Hare, and Witness will be opening at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan, on June 14, 2012. Pinkney will be inducted with the rest of the new class for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on October 6, 2012, at the Academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 


Since its founding in 1780, the Academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.


Learn more about this year's inductees on the Academy's website


Jerry Pinkney's website: www.jerrypinkneystudio.com

Jerry Pinkney on "The Little Match Girl" (NRM "Witness" video outtake)

Jerry Pinkney on "Sweethearts of Rhythm" (NRM "Witness" video outtake)