A conversation with illustrator Kadir Nelson, writer and critic Cinque Henderson, and socio-political scientist Dr. Jungmiwha Bullock; reception to follow.
Tickets $25, includes post-event reception with the speakers and book signing with Mr. Nelson.
See the new exhibition: In Our Lifetime: Paintings from the Pandemic by Kadir Nelson, now on view. (Museum admission additional).
Kadir Nelson (b. 1974) is an award-winning American author and artist based in Los Angeles, California. Upon earning a BFA from Pratt Institute, Nelson was selected by DreamWorks Pictures to create conceptual artwork to inspire the visuals for Steven Spielberg’s Oscar® nominated feature, Amistad and the animated feature, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
In addition to his cover illustrations for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and National Geographic, among others, Nelson has illustrated over 30 picture books, including The Undefeated written by Kwame Alexander, winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award in 2020; We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, a New York Times Best-Seller; and Henry’s Freedom Box, which received a Caldecott Honor. He has designed album covers for Michael Jackson and Drake, and more than a dozen United States postage stamps honoring American legends Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Wilt Chamberlain, Marvin Gaye, and others.
His salient original paintings reside in the permanent collections of several notable institutions including the United States House of Representatives, the Muskegon Museum of Art, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, United States Postal Museum, the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, and most recently, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the World Trade Center, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, among others.
Nelson is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in New York, a Gold Cube and Freelancer of the Year Award from The Art Directors Club, multiple Caldecott Honors, Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, New York Times Best Illustrated Books Awards, NAACP Image Awards, Communication Arts Awards of Excellence, and an Olympic Art Bronze Medal, among others.
Visit KadirNelson.com for additional information.
Dr. Jungmiwha Bullock, PhD is a multidisciplinary scholar, civil and human rights advocate, author, and partner of THE JKBN GROUP, and chief executive officer, founder, and philanthropist of J. S. Bullock & Associates, LLC, an international education, professional, and philanthropy services consulting brokerage. In addition to her companies, Dr. Bullock is also a renowned diversity leader, consultant, visual artist, and guest speaker who has been featured on a number of nationally syndicated news programs and media outlets, including NPR, ABC, CBS, BBC, Time, Ebony, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, National Geographic, and more.
A social and political scientist by training, Dr. Bullock completed her PhD at the University of Southern California in the interdisciplinary Department of American Studies & Ethnicity, with primary fields in Sociology and Political Science, integrating both advanced qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She also holds advanced degrees in International Education and policy from New York University, and undergraduate degrees in communications and business from Penn State University. Her past and current research continues to grapple with topics pertaining to race, gender, and politics, ethnomedical research, mental health disparities, among other policy and equity related research.
Professionally, Dr. Bullock has had the honor of teaching, coordinating, and creating innovative programs for a wide variety of individuals, organizations, businesses, institutions, and governmental agencies, and has served in several leadership positions over the years on the local, state, and national levels. Today, she continues to proudly serve on numerous philanthropic boards with a strong commitment to service. In her spare time, she participates in long distance cycling and ultra-marathons, as she needs to be able to maintain her homemade ice cream habit, master gardening, raising puggles and rottweilers, and keeping up with her equally adventurous husband.
Cinque Henderson is a cultural critic, writer, and film and television producer. He began his work in Los Angeles as a film executive on Steven Spielberg’s Amistad where he first came across the work of a young Kadir Nelson and, along with the producer Debbie Allen, hired him as a visual consultant for the film. Henderson’s critical writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the NY Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He is currently working on a book about Abraham Lincoln.