Questions for Ekua Holmes on Children’s Book Illustration and Creative Process
By: Kathleen McBroom
Hello, Ekua!
Ekua, you illustrated your first children’s book, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford in 2015. It became a Caldecott Honor Book, a Robert F. Siebert Honor Book, and brought you the John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award. Your subsequent books have gone on to win ever-expanding audiences and additional acclaim, including back-to-back Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards, for Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth in 2017, and The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer in 2018. Your most recently published book is Black is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy, which came out in 2020, and you have a brand new offering for 2021: Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist MaVynee Betsch by Heidi Tyline King.
You have been busy! You started illustrating children’s books relatively recently, in the midst of a very successful, very established career. You were already known for your unique art collages and for your involvement in community art initiatives, many in collaboration with your alma mater, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston.
However, did you come to illustrate children’s books?
As a community arts advocate and gallerist, I always encouraged artists to take every opportunity to “show your work.” If no one sees it, it is not doing an important job. Some artists balked at the idea of showing in restaurants or cafes. But I contend that art directors eat, museum curators eat and collectors eat. To that end, I was “showing my work” at a local ice cream store. Someone from Candlewick Press came in with their daughter for an ice cream cone and saw the work. She contacted me to ask if I might be interested in illustrating children’s literature. I said I might. Then she sent me the manuscript for “Voice of Freedom” written by Carol Boston Weatherford and I knew destiny was calling.
You once said that your art reflects “contemporary Black art traditions”. Can you go into detail about what this means?
I think someone else said this in a short bio. But if I had to explain it I would say that my work is about my life and community. Therefore it is seated on a foundation of Black Art traditions. Through a colored lens that may include quilt making, gardening, cooking, interior design, fashion, the healing arts, and spirituality. I draw from both real and imaginative stories to present narratives of devotion, determination, self-awareness, gratitude, and remembering. By using the personal and particular I find that I am able to express a larger, universal story.
How would you describe your art? Your techniques? Your creative process?
I work primarily in collage and mixed media using lost and found papers, objects, and stories. Lately, I’ve been inspired by the profound and timeless writings of James Baldwin, Frederick Douglass, Toni Morrison, and Nina Simone. During the pandemic, I’ve discovered audiobooks which allow me to work or while listening. An idea may begin very simply as a scribble on a napkin but in that scribble, I can see an entire tableau.
Your next book, Saving American Beach, by Heidi Tyline King, will be available later this year. Did you know the story of MaVynee Betsch’s life before this project?
Can you tell us a little bit about the content, and how you approached the artwork?
Can you share why you chose specific colors, images, and themes in your illustrations?
I did not know MaVynee Betsch’s story before the project but like other wonderful moments of serendipity, once I signed on, I ended up taking a trip to American Beach with a friend. I found it to be one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen. I could feel the spirit of the Black community that developed it and held it for their generations. I could feel the struggle they endured to ward off development and loss and I could feel the love. I approached the project by acknowledging the ocean, the sky, and the great dune, Nana, as main characters in the story along right alongside the incredible MaVynee Betsch.
You’ve indicated in the past that you often draw on your own childhood experiences growing up in Roxbury, a Boston neighborhood, in your art. Did you rely on these types of memories when you were working on Saving American Beach?
Yes. From my visits there. I actually went twice.
School librarians talk about illustrations during book talks and read-aloud. Can you offer any advice on how to introduce your art to students - especially kids who may not have any art in their lives – either specifically for Saving American Beach or for your art in general?
I think the story is the most important thing. Kids (and adults) love stories. The art – its colors, characters, form, and style serve the story. To the extent that we can imagine ourselves in the story, we can embody and explore its values and lessons.
Decades ago, you founded The Great Black Art Collection to introduce Black art and artists to new audiences. Do you have any suggestions for making art accessible for kids? Might you have suggestions for school librarians on how to encourage awareness of and appreciation for Black artists?
I would encourage displays of books about artists (not just Black artists) and making available tools and activities that encourage choice and creativity. The library is a place for browsing and learning what we are visually attracted to – what we are curious about. Great librarians are always paying attention and help us with our interests. Artists’ visits and presentations add a dimensionality to reading about a particular topic.
School librarians and educators have finally realized how crucial it is to give kids books with characters who look like them, and to make sure that there is more equal representation of all members of society in fiction, non-fiction, and history books. Do you remember seeing any characters who looked like you when you were growing up? How about during your art studies?
Absolutely not. If I saw a brown face it was because I colored it in myself. Even at my church, in our bible stories, not one face was tan, brown or black. In college there were two or three Black artists included in my courses. However a black professor opened up my world by helping to arrange a trip to the National Conference of Artists – A Black artists organization that had as members, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, Samella Lewis and a host of other from around the country. It was like water to a thirsty child.
In the past, you’ve illustrated books about prejudice, inequality, civil rights, representation, inclusion, poets, and outer space. Now you’ve just finished a book about an amazing, multi-talented, multi-layered woman, MaVynee Betsch. How do you create illustrations that help young audiences understand these abstract, wide-ranging concepts?
I try to work in harmony with the authors words and concepts. Most biographies are a slice of a great, grand life. There is always so much more than we can fit poetically in a children’s book. So, where has the author placed the emphasis? What are the key concepts they are exploring? How can the art complement or expand on that? If I feel that something important has been left out, I mention it to the publishing team.
In a previous interview you mentioned how much research you do before you start a new book so that you can create your own images and interpretations (you were talking about The Stuff of Stars at the time). You also indicated that you find it useful not to talk to the author. Why is this so important to you? How did this affect your work on Saving American Beach?
I think what I meant was that I now understand why the industry does not encourage communications between the author and artist while the book is being illustrated. I can see that it may impede the artist from working freely and expressively. However there are successful exceptions.
Is it more difficult to illustrate a biography about a well-known individual like MaVynee Betsch (or Fannie Lou Hamer or Barbara Jordan) knowing that some readers have their own ideas about the person’s appearance and persona? I don’t think about those issues while working. During the project, I am using my skill and commitment to bring forth a meaningful representation of them.
You’ve already helped bring three strong, amazing African American women to life (MaVynee Betsch, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Barbara Jordan). In Out of Wonder, you created illustrations to help celebrate the work of poets ranging from Gwendolyn Brooks to Maya Angelou to Nikki Giovanni. Are there other subjects you’d like to portray someday?
There are so many! Many from my own childhood.
You’ve also illustrated a very simple, very sweet book for younger readers, Black is a Rainbow Color, by Angela Joy. Your use of heavy black outlining throughout your illustrations emphasizes the power and beauty of the color black and brings to mind stained glass windows. I’m wondering if some of the images you created reflect your childhood experiences?
This is a new way of working for me. I was aiming for the look of coloring books where children have the ultimate choice of what colors to employ. I wish I could remember what colors I used as a child in coloring people and what I thought about my choices.
I have had illustrators and authors tell me that creating images and writing for children is really, really hard and that young people can be very intimidating audiences. Would you agree?
I don’t think about that when I’m working on a project.
Have you ever gotten any feedback from a young critic that you’d be willing to share?
No. I hope that is a good thing.
When you work on your illustrations for children’s books, are you conscious of thinking or creating in a different way because you know your main audience will be kids? Does working on children’s books affect your creative process in different ways from when you work on projects intended for all ages?
Yes, I do think about that. Many books are age-specific and I want to honor where the kids might be in their understanding of the world. In all of my work I like to leave some things to the imagination and some questions to ponder. I like to think that I am making works of art that illustrate a story.
In 2019, in Washington, DC, in your ALA Coretta Scott King Illustrator acceptance speech, you told a story about how your inspiration for the galaxy illustrations in The Stuff of Stars came from a small scrap of marbleized paper you found while sweeping out your studio. Forgive me, but this sounds suspiciously serendipitous. My guess is that you’re always creating, always looking for new ways of seeing and sharing marvelous images. What can we look forward to next?
Serendipity has been a powerful part of my life. I could tell you stories you wouldn’t believe.
Are there any questions you wish I’d asked?
I’ll leave it there. Thank you for some great questions.