Award winning, children’s book illustrator and Annapolis Valley resident, Ron Lightburn, will be exhibiting new paintings based on his popular picture book, Pumpkin People, which he created with his partner, Sandra. The book reveals the secret life of the folk art figures that gather each year to celebrate the Kentville Harvest Festival, which begins this Saturday, October 3rd.
Ron’s career as a children’s book illustrator was launched with his Governor General’s Award-winning artwork for Waiting for the Whales in 1991. Since then he has illustrated numerous other best selling picture books and has become internationally renowned for his sensitive storytelling skills and range of illustration styles, from the touching realism of How Smudge Came to the exuberant whimsy of The Happily Ever Afternoon.
During the past quarter century his artwork has graced the covers of over sixty books and has been featured in magazines, calendars, posters and advertisements across North America. His corporate clients include the Walt Disney Company, CP Hotels, Heritage Canada Foundation, General Foods, McDonald’s Restaurants and Aliant. His artwork has been recognized and exhibited by The Society of Illustrators in New York and is included in the permanent collections of Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books in Toronto and the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy in Toronto. In 2005 his paintings for A Poppy Is To Remember were selected to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Library and Archives Canada publication Read Up On It.
The Designer Café offers the many artists in our region a relaxed venue to show their work outside of a gallery or formal exhibition. The Café shows a wide range of artworks from abstract to representational to book illustrations and outsider art.
Hours: Monday – Thursday 7am-5pm, Friday 7am-6pm, Saturday 8am-4pm
For more information, contact Deborah Nicholson at info@dnphotoworks.com or 902-582-7959. To contact the café directly, call 902-365-3322.