The public is invited to Croft Farm Sunday to meet with local authors and artists at the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association (CHAACA) and South Jersey Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta annual author and artist expo on Sunday, May 5.
This year’s event – planned in collaboration with the Cherry Hill township and its arts board – will feature 34 authors and artists from the Cherry Hill and Philadelphia areas. Attendees will be able to interact with the artists and authors and purchase their work.
Featured at the expo will be author and illustrator E.B. Lewis, who’s worked on more than 80 books during his career of 30-plus years. A former public school teacher of 12 years, Lewis had a background in the fine arts. While teaching, he got an opportunity to try something new.
“I got a call from an agent,” he recalled. “I was doing artwork, I was at a gallery in Philadelphia not doing illustration at all. I’m a fine artist really, who happens to do paint illustration.”
After exploring the field more, Lewis learned that the agent had submitted his slides to nine different publishers. By the end of the week, he had heard back from all of them – and accepted all nine.
“The rest was history,” Lewis noted.
Since then, he has consistently worked on two or three books a year, four at a time during one two-year period. The books he’s illustrated have focused on deeper topics such as racism, bullying, the lives of historical figures and the importance of kindness.
One of them, “Each Kindness,” by Jacquelin Woodson, is about a female student being bullied by a classmate. It addresses how acts of kindness can have a ripple effect and that we don’t always get a second chance.
“It’s about the youth for me, and getting them to understand their place in the world and having a strong voice within it,” Lewis explained.
For him, it’s also about leaving something behind, a legacy that someone else can use.
“That’s what art is, that’s what art does,” Lewis observed. “Unfortunately, we artists in the country are marginalized, but our job – we sit out on the peripheral – and we’re in constant observation of the world, and what we see, we’re documenting.
“So the stories that I’m telling, the stories that I write,” he added, “are about that documentation, so if other generations and cultures come along … (they) will witness what was going on in this particular time while I walked the Earth.”
Lewis’ stories have been adapted into performances over the years and he has had the opportunity to display his art in museums. Reflecting what he loves most about his work, Lewis shared that the best thing about that work is being able to share his passion and do the work of an artist to inspire, ignite and influence the country’s youth.
“I used to say when I was a young artist, I want to be the best artist in the world,” he recounted. “What I say and what I realize is, ‘I want to be the best artist for the world.”
The free expo will take place outdoors rain or shine at Croft Farm from 2 to 5 p.m. and will include food trucks.
