David Macaulay is renowned for his intricate drawings demystifying everything from how castles were built (Castle, 1977) to the inner workings of the brain (The Amazing Brain, 1984). But he may be best known for the comprehensive The Way Things Work, first published in 1988. A 1991 Caldecott Medal winner and 2006 MacArthur Fellow, the British-born illustrator, 71, has lived in Norwich for the past dozen years.
Now on view at the Vermont Arts Council‘s Spotlight Gallery, “Macaulay in Montpelier: Selected Drawings and Sketches” provides insight into the artist’s meticulous work translating a variety of technologies and structures into visual form. In addition, Macaulay presents the lecture “Illustrating Architecture From the Inside Out” on Wednesday, October 24, at the University of Vermont in Burlington.
Seven Days chatted with Macaulay about his process and perfectionism and what he’d like to do next.
Full interview >>> https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/illustrator-david-macaulay-talks-about-drawing-learning-and-forgetting/Content?oid=21877060
The cover for Angie Thomas’s acclaimed Black Lives Matter–inspired novel, The Hate U Give, began, fittingly, as a piece of protest art. Back in 2015, Debra Cartwright, the artist who made the illustration, was sitting at her desk at People magazine in Times Square while a protest over the death of Freddie Gray took place on the street below. Unable to knock off work to join in, Cartwright did the next best thing: She sketched an illustration on Photoshop of a woman holding up a protest sign. Only her puff of curly hair is visible above the edge of a poster with the words “End Police Terror.” The piece went viral, and eventually, Angie Thomas saw it on Instagram and suggested it to her publisher as cover material. Last week, the official poster for the movie adaptation, due out in October, was released online; the poster is closely modeled on Cartwright’s work.
