STORYTIME with Jayne Moore Waldrop

The UK Art Museum is delighted to host author Jayne Moore Waldrop for a storytime event featuring her new book She Remembered It All: The Art of Memory Painter Helen LaFrance. Waldrop will conduct a read-a-loud of the book in the Museum's ground floor gallery, followed by an opportunity for participants to create an original illustrated memory story inspired by the works of Kentucky artist Helen LaFrance.

 

Children of all ages are welcome to participate. This event is free to attend and all craft materials will be provided. When registering, please include the total number of children and accompanying adults who will be in attendance. Making a reservation guarantees you admission to the event, but walk-ins are also welcome. If you make a reservation and later can no longer attend, please notify the event organizer, Dan Solberg (dan.solberg@uky.edu), so he can make those reservations available to others.

 

About the book:

 

She Remembered It All: The Art of Memory Painter Helen LaFrance, a children’s book, explores the life and art of Helen LaFrance, a Kentucky memory painter and outsider artist who captured a lively, vibrant view of rural life in a changing world. Her nearly century-long creative journey began at age five when her mother taught her to draw and later to paint with pigments made from berry juice, laundry bluing, and plant leaves. LaFrance developed a unique style of creative expression and worked outside the conventional art world. Her work has been compared to other well-known outsider artists like Grandma Moses, Horace Pippin, and Clementine Hunter.

 

About the author:

 

Jayne Moore Waldrop is a writer and attorney who loves telling stories about her native western Kentucky. She is the author of A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson (Shadelandhouse Modern Press); Drowned Town (University Press of Kentucky), an INDIES Book of the Year Award silver winner in fiction and a 2022 Great Group Reads List selection (Women’s National Book Association); Retracing My Steps and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems, both published by Finishing Line Press.

 

About the illustrator:

 

Michael McBride, a Nashville, Tennessee-based artist and a professor at Tennessee State University, has illustrated over 75 children’s books. He was featured in Visions of My People: Sixty Years of African American Art in Tennessee, an exhibit organized by the Tennessee State Museum. He was commissioned to paint a four-story mural honoring US Representative John Lewis, completed and installed in downtown Nashville in November 2021. Too Black Too Fast is a touring art exhibit created by McBride to celebrate the history of African American jockeys in Thoroughbred racing and their contributions to the sport. McBride earned his undergraduate degree in art from Tennessee State University and his graduate degree in painting from Illinois State University.