Yuyi Project


The talented award-winning children’s author and illustrator Yuyi Morales visited CALS for a program kicking off a wonderful exhibition of her work, that will be on display at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library & Learning Center. Read blog post here. This is a special project of the Six Bridges Book Festival, CALS Outreach and Development departments, and the Children’s Library, in collaboration with the Consulate of Mexico in Little Rock, the Latino Art Project and Seis Puentes. The exhibition Yuyi Morales: Soñadora will run through Nov. 15 and include more than 50 pieces of her work.  The exhibition will be accessible to the public during regular library hours and free to attend.

Morales also visited Chicot Elementary School while she is in Little Rock, through the Festival’s WITS (Writers in the Schools) program.

In addition to the in-person programs, and the exhibition, CALS will give away more than 200 books written and/or illustrated by Morales, including copies of Dreamers, Bright Star, Frida, Thunder Boy, Jr., Just in Case and Nino.

This exhibition was organized by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, Texas. The program is supported with funding from the Arkansas Arts Council, a division of Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.

The Artists

 

Yuyi Morales

Yuyi Morales was born in Xalapa, Mexico, the city of flowers and springs. After migrating to the US in 1994, she struggled with English and loneliness in a culture foreign to her but found solace in public libraries, where she read children’s books with her son and discovered a renewed interest in stories and art. She is now the author and illustrator of many books for children, including the New York Times bestseller Dreamers, her most recent book, Bright Star, and she is a seven-time winner of the Pura Belpre Medal for an outstanding work of literature for children that best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience. Other honors include the Americas Award, the Golden Kite Medal, the Christopher Award, the Jane Adams Award, and the Tomas Rivera Award. In 2015 she received the Caldecott Honor for her book Viva Frida.

José Hernandez

José Hernandez is a local artist who started doing murals after moving to Savannah, GA, where he formed an art collective with some other local artists. They held pop-up art events in many cities all over the US and Mexico. Hernandez’s local projects include work for the Arkansas Times, the Argenta District, Dunbar Gardens, the North Little Rock Boys and Girls Club, Stephens Elementary School, 7th Street, and Sushi Café. As a muralist, Hernandez’s favored tool is spray paint because he is able to cover a larger space in a shorter amount of time. His pieces are driven by social commentary and messages that he would like to convey to the community.

Andrea Carrillo

Andrea Carrillo is a freshly graduated illustrator from the Kansas City Art Institute, living in Bentonville, AR. With a passion for storytelling, her artwork can be (but is not limited to) still images, sequential work, and character or concept design. She works in a variety of mediums; and despite clinging to traditional media for years, Andrea now illustrates primarily digitally. Her drawings tend to be story-driven, colorful, and lighthearted. She has worked with multiple brands and organizations, amongst them Walmart, Englewood Arts Center, ArtVentures, and The Coterie Theater.

Brioch Ochoa

Briseida (Brioch) Ochoa’s work includes photography, painting, mixed media, and printmaking. By applying abstraction, she creates intense personal moments created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance, and refusal, luring the viewer. The results are deconstructed to the extent that meaning is shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted. Her work demonstrates how life extends beyond its own subjective limits and often tells a story about the effects of cultural interaction. It challenges the binaries we continually reconstruct between self and the other. She currently lives and works in Bentonville, AR.

Lourdes Valverde

Lourdes Valverde is a Mexican self-taught figurative artist who currently resides in Arkansas. Born in México, she developed a deep passion for art at a young age. Despite not having any formal training, Valverde’s determination led her to establish herself as a notable artist within the art world. Drawing inspiration from her Mexican heritage, Valverde often incorporates elements of vibrant colors, cultural symbols, and traditional motifs in her work. Her art serves as a reflection of her personal experiences, cultural identity, and the universal human condition. Valverde´s distinctive style combines realism with a touch of surrealism, creating thought-provoking and visually captivating pieces. Valverde’s artwork has been exhibited in various galleries and art shows, both nationally and internationally. Her work is in a collective travel exhibition called “Corazon Migrante 2023”. This exhibition is traveling through 19 Mexican Consulates in the United States. The artists participating in this exhibition are 23 Mexicans living in the USA. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Valverde is known for her active involvement in the local art community. She has conducted workshops and cultural projects, sharing her knowledge and techniques with the community. She teaches Painting, Creative Development, and Spanish at Arkansas Arts Academy; allowing her to do the two things she has always been passionate about: the arts and teaching

Vincente Yañez

Vincente Yañez is a resident of Springdale, AR. Amateur artist and professional apprentice of anything that can be learned. Vicente is an enthusiast of the concept of design, which applies not only on the visual execution of his paintings and drawings, but in the conceptualization of the idea and the philosophy of the intention behind.