A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson – Children’s Book Launch and Signing

Written by Jayne Moore Waldrop of Lexington, KY and illustrated by Michael McBride of Nashville, TN, A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson is beautifully illustrated in vibrant watercolors and tells the story of a young man’s determined path to become a classically trained artist. Growing up in rural Kentucky in the early twentieth century, Wilson needed to convince his family and neighbors that art was a path worth choosing over becoming a farmer or teacher. And he had to find an art school that judged him for his talent and not for the color of his skin. How Wilson saw the world influenced his vibrant, groundbreaking art, as well as the lifelong pursuit of his dream “to paint all the time—everything of interest and beauty.”

Author Jayne Moore Waldrop is a writer and attorney who loves telling stories about her native western Kentucky. She is the author of Drowned Town (University Press of Kentucky, 2021), an INDIES Book of the Year Award silver winner in fiction, and of Retracing My Steps (2019) and Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems (2021), both published by Finishing Line Press. This is her debut children’s book. 

Illustrator Michael McBride, a Nashville, Tennessee-based artist and a professor at Tennessee State University, has illustrated over 75 children’s books. He was featured in Visions of My People: Sixty Years of African American Art in Tennessee, an exhibit organized by the Tennessee State Museum. He was commissioned to paint a four-story mural honoring US Representative John Lewis, completed and installed in downtown Nashville in November 2021. Too Black Too Fast is a touring art exhibit created by McBride to celebrate the history of African American jockeys in Thoroughbred racing and their contributions to the sport.