Archway Gallery presents Love You Forever and Beyond: The Children's Book Art of Sheila McGraw

Archway Gallery presents Love You Forever and Beyond—The Children's Book Art of Sheila McGraw.  McGraw is best known for illustrating the 20-million-copies-sold bestseller, children’s classic “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch. 

Opening Reception & Book Signing: Saturday, Feb. 7; book signing, 5-6:30 p.m.; reception: 5-8 p.m.; artist's talk: 6:30 p.m. 

Includes complimentary valet parking and catered refreshments.

Sheila McGraw will be signing many of her popular books along with Indie author Barbara Farnsworth who wrote Where the Lost Things Go.  Books will be on sale throughout the show.  Farnsworth will be available at the reception to discuss her publishing experience with guests.

The exhibition, open from Feb. 7-March 5, features original illustrations by Sheila McGraw from published children's books: I Promise I'll Find You, Pussycats Everywhere, Where the Lost Things Go, Snuffy and Vroom Vroom, Lightning Bug Thunder, My Mother's Hands, and My Father's Hands, and Giclee prints from Love You Forever (more than twenty-seven million books in print). Owning an original piece of artwork from a favorite children's book has special meaning. With the wide-ranging subjects of a books' art and their easy-to-place scale, illustrative art belongs in any kids' rooms or family space. For the first time, many of these original artworks will be shown and offered to collectors. Included is the art in its entirety from several books to be acquired in its entirety or as individual pieces. A variety of media are utilized, including: oil pastel on board, Prismacolor pencil, pastel, and marker on acid-free 100% rag paper, and acrylic on linen. Most pieces are framed.

McGraw delves into an author's words and their concept, and distills them into form and color onto the page, all the while considering and helping the author fine-tune their manuscript for visual cues, pacing, grammar, continuity and composition. The art is then created in a medium that connects the art to the story.