Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books

Born in Australia and raised in Northern Ireland, Oliver Jeffers is an award-winning artist and author working in painting, bookmaking, illustration, collage, performance, and sculpture. From his 2004 debut How to Catch a Star to his more recent titles such as 2017’s Here We Are, his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and sold more than fourteen million copies worldwide.

This retrospective exhibition showcases nearly one hundred artworks, some never seen, including original line drawings, sketches, and finished illustrations, from sixteen of Jeffers’s picture books, including the wildly popular The Day the Crayons Quit and its sequel, The Day the Crayons Came Home; Here We Are; The Incredible Book Eating Boy; and Once Upon an Alphabet.

The exhibition is organized into six sections, focused on Jeffers’s artistic process, character development, and storytelling. They will also highlight some of Jeffers’s most popular book series, including those that explore the secret lives of crayons and the relationship dynamics of the Huey family, who are inspired by Jeffers’s childhood.

In addition to engaging graphics and design elements, the galleries will feature a few reading areas where families can dig deeper into the stories.​

Credit: Overview from museum website