My Pearson Excellence in Teaching Award!

It arrived! And wowsa - what an award it is!!!
You might recall I told you about this recently: I was selected as the Outstanding Teaching Through the Pandemic award winner for the 2022 Pearson Excellence in Higher Education Award!
A Pearson representative interviewed me the other day, so I'll share any articles when they come out. Meanwhile, Here's what Pearson said in the initial press release (again):
It is evident that you adapted in ways that demonstrate your commitment to your students in the face of the pandemic. Your creativity and resourcefulness provided multiple learning modalities while also supporting students through an emotionally turbulent time to still have the best learning experience possible. Out of a robust pool of talented nominees, your work as an educator stood out to us. We are so excited to recognize you with this award.
The award comes with a lovely plaque and a $2,000 grant to attend a conference to share your differentiated teaching and learning expertise! (I'll be going to SCOTLAND!!! More on that soon!)

They closed with: "Congratulations again on your award! On behalf of learners everywhere, we appreciate your commitment to student success." - The Pearson Higher Education Marketing Team
Read more about it HERE!

WOW!

Coloring Page Tuesday - Hugging Mice

     It's been a while since my last coloring page. Sign up for my newsletter to find out why. Either way, you're going to be seeing a lot of hugging themed coloring pages coming up. I hope you love a whole lotta love! I know I do!
      CLICK HERE for more coloring pages.
     Remember, I create my coloring pages to draw your attention to my books! For instance, my board book Merbaby's Lullaby!
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     I create my coloring pages for teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to enjoy for free with their children, but you can also purchase rights to an image for commercial use, please contact me. If you have questions about usage, please visit my Angel Policy page.

Picture Book Trends Workshop at Hollins University

I will finally be hosting my Picture Book Trends Workshop again, in person, this summer at the ever gorgeous Hollins University!
“Picture Book Trends: A Curated Reading Workshop”
Monday, June 12 – Friday, June 16, 2023

Are you a teacher, librarian, or parent overwhelmed by the prospect of picking out the best new picture books for your young readers? Are you a creator who needs to stay on top of today’s picture book marketplace? If so, let this expert guide you on a curated reading journey.

Over the course of five days, award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, Dr. Elizabeth Dulemba, will walk you through the picture book submissions for the annual Margaret Wise Brown Prize and other best-sellers, covering current themes and trends, and pointing out the written and visual tricks that make them popular, successful, and beloved. By the end of the week, you will have a solid grasp of the current picture book landscape to better prepare you to recommend books to others or create them yourself.
I was only able to host the workshop one time before the pandemic hit and we had an amazing time! You can read all about it: CLICK HERE.
Meanwhile, CLICK HERE if you'd like to learn more about this summer's workshop and sign up! Hope to see you there!
P.S. - You might want to read the article for Publishers Weekly that wrapped up my Picture Book Trends efforts in 2022: CLICK HERE!

Talking About AI at Winthrop University

I recently spoke a the Movement(s) in a Dynamic World: Intersiciplinary Perspectives conference hosted at Winthrop University.

     I spoke on "AI-Assisted Illustration: This Changes Everything."
     I've been following the subject closely since Midjourney hit the scene last summer, putting together a slideshow on what I was learning. At the time, I had no idea where/when I was going to share my research; and then, happily, this conference opportunity arose.
     I was the program moderator for our panel with William Davis from UNC Charlotte and James Risk from the University of South Carolina. Will talked about a fascinating art project he'd been working on that involved film, photogrphy, illustrations, and music - all of which were excellent. James talked about the Fresnel lighthouse lens, which made an excellent bookend to my topic, showing how society's adoption of new technologies has changed over the last two hundred years.
     One of my students gave a talk on fantasy art in the panel after mine. I love supporting budding academics. And there was a vigorous discussion about fantasy and religion and mythology afterwards.
     The posters were also excellent.
     What a wonderful treat it is when top notch conferences take place in your own back yard!

Our Illustrated World - The 2023 Illustration Gallery Show

Thursday evening we celebrated the opening of our biannual WU Illustration Gallery Show. It's a chance to show off works by our amazingly talented students in our show called "Our Illustrated World."
Works were from several (not all) illustration courses, such as Design Drawing II (a freshmen-level drawing course)...
Comparative Anatomy: Creature Creation (this is Shaunie with her piece - she also shared world building pieces and an animation sizzle reel)...
Illustrating Children's Books, here are book dummies and full spreads...
Animation 1 (a collection of sizzle reels shared on a monitor), Creating Graphic Novels...
Persuasion & Propaganda (these are posters around "Mental Wellness" and "Self care")...
and World Building. Setting up the show was a great learning experience in itself; although, we couldn't have done it without the help of Gallery aide, Jenna, shown blowing up one of the many balloons!
Here are Alyssa and Mia...
Ave and Asher...
Ethan, Sarah, Israel, and Guye...
They did a great job getting everything on display - it was a lot of work - and it came together beautifully! Here was the primary signage.
One entire wall was made up of works from World Building, from the maps...
to large projections of the scenes (not shown), to landscape views, to street views
, moving in to interior views, and prop design.
A few students created maquettes (models) to use to make their drawings more accurate.
Look at the model by Izzy Wallace...
Then see how it translated to her artwork - pretty awesome!
Everyone had a great time.
They blew up balloons (here's Ave who got pretty good at making balloon dogs).
Here are Maggie, Israel, and Asher.
Folks loved watching the Animation Reels.
Several alumni dropped by. Here are Lizzie, Hannah, and David.
And me (feeling rather victorious) with Lizzie.
We had mascots - Chair Jason with his pug...
and Kaelen with Beans.
The show is up in the Lewandowski Gallery through March 6th. I hope you can drop by!

I won the Pearson Teaching Award! OMG!

I can't believe it! I have been selected as the Outstanding Teaching Through the Pandemic award winner for the 2022 Pearson Excellence in Higher Education Award!
I was so flattered to be nominated, and to be a finalist. I never thought I'd actually WIN - wow! Here's what they said:
It is evident that you adapted in ways that demonstrate your commitment to your students in the face of the pandemic. Your creativity and resourcefulness provided multiple learning modalities while also supporting students through an emotionally turbulent time to still have the best learning experience possible. Out of a robust pool of talented nominees, your work as an educator stood out to us. We are so excited to recognize you with this award.
The award comes with a lovely plaque and a $2,000 grant to attend a conference to share your differentiated teaching and learning expertise! WOW! Thank you!!! I am so grateful!!!

They closed with: "Congratulations again on your award! On behalf of learners everywhere, we appreciate your commitment to student success." - The Pearson Higher Education Marketing Team
Read more about it HERE!

WOW!

Providence, Rhode Island for New Years!

I took a lovely train ride from NYC to Providence, Rhode Island to spend New Years with my dear friend, author/illustrator/professor Mary Jane Begin and her beau Andy Seal. More hugs!
     MJ lives within walking distance to a bay on the Atlantic - a very different vibe from NYC!
There, we took several lovely walks along the beach.
Andy made cozy fires every night.
We ate and read and got excited about the house just up the street that MJ decided to buy. (I'll let her tell that story!)
     Meanwhile, MJ and I visited RISD, where she teaches and where I almost went to school long ago. How different my life might have been if I had!
I loved seeing her photo among the faculty.
One of the shining stars of RISD is their taxidermy collection that they keep housed in their Nature Lab. I've long wished we could do something similar at Winthrop, since we also have an amazing taxidermy collection. No matter how you feel about taxidermy, they make wonderful drawing resources for students learning proper anatomy.
     In Providence, we had lunch at a wonderful old restaurant originally built in the late 1700s as a brothel (I think). It had plaster walls, black trim, enormous fireplaces - I loved it! I love old places with history like that - it's part of why I love Scotland so much. They're chocked full of stories, you can practically feel them in the air. (Sorry I didn't get a photo of it!)
     MJ and Andy were fabulous hosts. We spent a lovely outting in Newport, where we ate right on the water and wandered the old winding streets.
The decorations reminded me of Williamsburg; although I suppose the style arrived in Providence first!
Afterwards, we took a walk on "Cliffwalk," a spot overlooking the sea and Martha's Vineyard. I found a spot to sit and think while MJ and Andy walked on. They make such a handsome couple.
     It was a truly beautiful spot, and I decided to throw out Stan's first parting stone there. I'll talk about that more in another post.
     Before we left, we collected a dozen or so quahog shells (pronounced CO-hog) to stuff with clams for New Year's Eve. (They turned out amazing.) What an amazing thing to collect one's food from the wilds - it's not something humans do much of anymore. But it makes you feel so connected.
     Back to their own little beach, we saw horseshoe crabs...
and talked about life and death and, well, everything.
I was fascinated by the enormous number of "lady slippers" - a type of shell that was a hard to find treasure when I visited beaches on the Gulf Coast as a child. There were spots on their beach where ALL the shells were lady slippers!
A planned New Year's Eve party was sidelined by Covid, so MJ and Andy threw an impromptu gathering instead. We visited a Portuguese grocery store to load up on snacks and munchies. I'd never been to one, so it was wonderfully entertaining. Turns out I LOVE dried fava beans! Friends Chris and Anika Denise (who we also teach with at Hollins U) came over that evening along with another couple, which was a lovely way to spend the evening, even if I didn't make it to midnight.
     I had planned to throw out another of Stan's parting stones on New Year's Day, which turned out to be more than I bargained for. Again, next post. But leading up to that moment, we came across several families takng the New Year's plunge in the icy Atlantic.
There was a true sense of hope and joy for 2023, written in the sand, built with stones, collected carefully and shared with the world. Truly, what more could one wish for the New Year than this?
I'm so grateful to friends who have taken me in and shown me love at such a difficult time in my life. I don't think I've been easy company, yet I am so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so much love. And I still have love to give... May your new year be filled with peace and love.