Wikipedia

Vashti Harrison

Vashti Harrison (born 1988) is an American writer, illustrator and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Her book, Big, was awarded the 2024 Randolph Caldecott Medal.[1] She was born in Virginia and her films and other artworks are rooted in Caribbean heritage and folklore.

Vashti Harrison
Harrison at the 2023 Texas Book Festival
Born1988
Alma materUniversity of Virginia (BA)
California Institute of the Arts (MFA)
Known forIllustration
AwardsCaldecott Medal (2024)

Early life edit

Harrison was born in 1988 to an African American father and an Indian mother, who is from Trinidad and Tobago. She was in TAG (Talented and Gifted) and was described as "quiet and polite student" by her TAG teacher Ms. Corson. She went to Nandua Middle in ACPS. She earned her BA in 2010 from the University of Virginia as a double major in Media Studies and Studio Art with concentrations in Film and Cinematography.[2] She held the Aunspaugh 5th Year Fellowship in the McIntire Department of Art in 2010.[3] She then went on to receive an MFA in Film and Video from California Institute of Arts in 2014, where she attended Disney and DreamWorks Animation classes.[4]

Career edit

Films edit

Harrison's films are experimental and rooted in Caribbean heritage and folklore.[5] Her films have been screened at the New York Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival. She uses public appearances to offer advice for aspiring artists.[6]

  • Field Notes (2014) is a visual guide to the spiritual culture of Trinidad and Tobago. Harrison shares her own stories about shape-shifters and bloodsuckers, alongside the ghosts of the islands' past.[7][8][9] In 2014 it won Best Local Short Film at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. It was nominated for the Best Short Film at the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival.[10]
  • Sixteen (2015) the coming-of-age story of Harrison's mother; a metamorphosis from a difficult childhood to beautiful adulthood.[8] It premiered at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in 2015, where it was nominated for Best Short Film.[11][12]
  • Forged from the Love of Liberty (2016) is a poem about curses and superstitions, named after the anthem of Trinidad and Tobago.[13][14]
  • Harrison worked as a character designer on Hair Love (2019), a Pixar-style animated short which celebrates a positive black father-daughter relationships through the usage of black hair.[15][16][17] The film received $284,000 Kickstarter funding, after a campaign headed by NFL wide receiver Matthew Cherry.[18] Hair Love won Best Animated Short Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. Harrison also illustrated a children's book based on the film.[19]

Illustration and books edit

Harrison used Instagram to get her first artistic commissions, through this meeting Apple which led to live drawing on iPads in New York.[20][21] She was inspired to create children's picture books after moving back to Trinidad and Tobago.[22] In 2016 Harrison attended the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Conference, where she entered and won a drawing competition "Draw This!" to have her illustration shared to all their industry partners.[23][24] This was the beginning of her illustrating and writing career - two months later, she had an agent - Simon & Schuster.[25] Harrison illustrated Surishtha and Kabir Sehgal's Festival of Colours, the story of Holi (due January 2018).[26] Her illustrations also appear in Cece Loves Science by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R Johannes.[27] Her book (as illustrator) Sulwe won a 2020 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Children category.[28] In 2024, her book (as author and illustrator), Big, was awarded the Randolph Caldecott Medal.[1]

Little Leaders series edit

The bestselling book Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History tells the story of 40 African-American women who shaped history.[29][2][30] Harrison says that she was inspired during Black History Month, when she began to illustrate and write about black women from American history.[31] The book was picked up by the publishers LittleBrown Books, and has both a UK (March 2018) and US (Dec 2017) version.[31] The book includes the stories of Mae Jemison, Katherine Johnson, Maya Angelou and Alice Bell.[32] It was nominated for an NAACP Image Award before it was released.[22] In January 2018 Vashti Harrison appeared on the Daily Show to discuss Little Leaders.[33]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "American Library Association announces 2024 Youth Media Award winners". ala.org. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  2. ^ a b "Alumna Vashti Harrison Publishes Book Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History". UVA Arts. 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  3. ^ "Cheapcuts Short Documentary Film Festival short films London". Cheapcuts Short Documentary Film Festival short films London. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  4. ^ "Vashti Harrison". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  5. ^ "Vashti Harrison, Author, Illustrator and Filmmaker". AALBC.com, the African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  6. ^ "LIVE from #NOFF2016 - Director Vashti Harrison". bckstry.org | Connecting & Supporting Creative Professionals in Lafayette and Acadiana. 2016-10-25. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  7. ^ "Field Notes". IFFR. 2015-08-31. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  8. ^ a b "Vashti Harrison". Vashti Harrison. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  9. ^ "Field Notes uses Visual Art to explore Caribbean Heritage". The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  10. ^ "Eye for Film: Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015 - Shorts programme". www.eyeforfilm.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  11. ^ "Vashti Harrison | Caribbean Film". caribbeanfilm.org. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  12. ^ "Lineup of Caribbean film selections announced for ttff/15". trinidad+tobago film festival. 2015-08-11. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  13. ^ "Forged From the Love of Liberty | Third Horizon Caribbean Film Festival 2017". Third Horizon Caribbean Film Festival 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  14. ^ "Season of Strangers". Atlanta Film Festival. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  15. ^ "The Interview : Vashti Harrison". Black Girl Nerds. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  16. ^ "Director Matthew Cherry Leverages Twitter to Fundraise 'Hair Love' Film - Black Enterprise". www.blackenterprise.com. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  17. ^ Gibbs, Adrienne. "'Hair Love,' Pixar-Style Film About Dad And Daughter, Surpasses Kickstarter Goal With $284,000". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  18. ^ "Hair Love | Animated Short Film". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  19. ^ Anderson, Gayle (February 21, 2022). "Black History Month: 'Hair Love' Book Signing with Academy Award Winning Author Matthew A. Cherry". KTLA. Los Angeles: Nexstar Media.
  20. ^ "Vashti Harrison: An Evening of Live Art | Apple Store, SoHo | arts | pulsd". pulsd. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  21. ^ "Vashti Harrison (@vashtiharrison) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  22. ^ a b "Meet Vashti C. Harrison, the Artist Sprinkling Her Magic One Book, Film & Illustration At A Time". Nia Magazine. 2017-12-07. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  23. ^ "SCBWI | July Insight 2016". www.scbwi.org. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  24. ^ "Illustrator Spotlight: Vashti Harrison". KidLit411. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  25. ^ "SCBWI | April 2017". www.scbwi.org. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  26. ^ "Festival of Colors by Surishtha Sehgal and Kabir Sehgal". aalbc.com: African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  27. ^ "Cece Loves Science by Kimberly Derting and Shelli R. Johannes". aalbc.com: African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  28. ^ "Vashti Harrison Receives 2020 NAACP Image Award". 24700. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  29. ^ WRAL. "BEST-SELLERS: CHILDREN'S BOOKS :: WRAL.com". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  30. ^ Harrison, Vashti (2017-12-05). Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780316475112.
  31. ^ a b "Vashti Harrison". F = For women on the rise. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  32. ^ "Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison". aalbc.com: African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  33. ^ "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah". Comedy Central. Retrieved 2018-01-16.

External links edit

Official website

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