Come and meet local artists and authors at this year’s Authors and Artist Expo and Festival on Sunday, May 7, where more than 35 authors and artists from the South Jersey, Philadelphia Metro and Essex County area will be gathered with their books and pieces on display for purchase.
The event is presented by the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated South Jersey (SJ) Alumnae Chapter, Cherry Hill African American Civic Association (CHAACA), Cherry Hill Township and Cherry Hill Artsboard. Now in its sixth year, the festival will be held outside and feature more children’s author and performances by the Society for Poets of Southern New Jersey and the featured poet Robert Hylton, a seven-time national and regional slam team member for the National Poetry Slam and Southern Fried Poetry Slam who will also be there as an author with his memoir, In America: Vol.1 Story of an Immigrant written in poetry and prose.
Emma Waring, chair representing the SJ Alumnae Chapter and CHAACA shared that they will be bringing back food trucks this year along with some new activities.
“This year there will be dancing from a young group, which is new,” Waring said. “We’ll be bringing on board storytelling. We have authors who are authors of children’s books, so they will be doing storytelling for the younger group and also we have an author who has a book for teens.”
The story times will take place on the porch of the Kay Evans House.
Attendees can participate in the festival by creating art on mini canvases, or through book giveaways for children. Some of the items that will be on display and available for purchase include Chicken Soup for the Soul, the book Anguilla Island Adventures with Bianca, and murals and canvas art.
Each year, the expo gives local authors and artists a chance to display their work to the community. For artist Joie Floyd of Westampton, it will be the first time participating in a show in five years. Floyd works with acrylic paints to create pictures of people of the African diaspora.
“To me, it’s easy to paint Black people because I’ve seen them my whole life and I’ve observed them closely my whole life,” Floyd said. “It just appeals to me. I like the way you can see a lot of different colors and skin tones.
“ … I like the loose brush stroke and when you stand back, everything comes together and when you look closely on it, it looks kind of like color is just splashed onto there, in different ways, when you back up, everything melds together and forms the picture.”
The event will run from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Croft Farm Center outdoors, coinciding with the Art Bloom Juried Art exhibition which will be on display in the Art Center.
