Reading under the Stars

Yesterday I read PLEASE, LOUISE aloud with students of The Wilkes School at Grace & Saint Peters and Midtown Academy. It was an enchanting afternoon sitting under the stars of Enoch Pratt’s Night Room chanting aloud the text from PLEASE, LOUISE. After we read together, I shared a bit of my journey as a young … Read more

Hot in Harlem

What a weekend. Friday afternoon I traveled to NYC to attend the Phillis Wheatley Award ceremony. I met up with my wonderful friend and fellow illustrator, Taeeun Yoo earlier in the day for a great lunch at Cho Dang Gol of Stone Bowl Bibimbap and Dak Galbi. Next we took the 1 train to 125th … Read more

Skpe and City Paper

What a week! On Tuesday I visited with Atlanta International School via Skype. Technology is mind boggling. It was my first time using video Skype with anyone, let alone a classroom of youngsters. The video is pretty long in cyber time (a whole 10 min.), but is pretty interesting for those interested in conducting Skype … Read more

Barrow Elementary School Visit

What a whirlwind! Yesterday I visited students at Barrow Elementary School in Athens, GA. We had a great time. The kids even convinced me to draw on the spot for them! Here are a few pics from the event. Thanks so much to NBAF, Barrow Elementary staff and students, and Morris Gardner at the Auburn … Read more

Traveling Art & Material Girls

Wow, it’s been a minute since I’ve blogged, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy. WHITE WATER debuts in 3 days! I’ve been working on a promotional material for that, including a shiny new trailer for my youtube channel (coming soon) ;-). School starts in a week and I’ve been obsessing over my syllabi, meeting people … Read more

Ashley Bryan Children’s Literature Award

Wow, what a whirlwind! I was in Atlanta last week to run the Peachtree Roadrace (which I ended up sleeping through) and at “Words and Color: A Lifetime of Discovery”, to receive the Ashley Bryan Children’s Literature Award for Illustration!!! The award reads: “Contribution of Excellence to Preserve the Legacy of Ashley Bryan” The event … Read more

Living the Dream – the exhibition

One more thing got scratched from my “to do” list yesterday. I hung my show, “Living the Dream, the art of Shadra Strickland” at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. A HUGE “thank you” goes out to Dorothea S., Morris G., and Morgan G. for helping with the hanging and lending me their eyes and opinions. … Read more

Funny fact…

I check my blog stats weekly to see which pages get the most traffic here on “Living the Dream”. The most viewed page on my site is Bridal Shower Drawing. Go figure…. It gets hits everyday without fail. All you maids of honor out there looking for that special bridal shower invitation, thanks for checking … Read more

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made of…

(Taeeun Yoo, this year’s new illustrator and Tonya Hegamin, this year’s new author) (Taeeun Yoo and Dr. Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation) (the crew – Paul, Lauren, Bean, me, Tae, Injoo, and Choi) Last week I spent a few days in NY celebrating one of my best friends, Taeeun Yoo … Read more

Learning to Juggle

April is going out with a bang! Last week I was the featured artist at the 23rd Annual Conference on Children’s Literature as a part of the Ashley Bryan Art Series. I was hosted by the wonderful librarians of the Broward County Library, specifically the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. If you are … Read more