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Home > Liberal Arts > Clifford creator Bridwell to be at IU Kokomo gala; work featured at Herron Gallery exhibit | |
 Bridwell
| Norman Bridwell, a native of Kokomo, attended Herron School of Art from 1945-1949 but moved to New York City when he couldn’t find a commercial art job in Indiana. After several editors turned him down as a children’s book illustrator, Bridwell decided to write his own book based on one of his drawings of a large red dog that he named Clifford. Almost 40 years later at age 73, Bridwell, who now lives on Martha’s Vineyard, has more than 80 million Clifford books in print and an animated Clifford series on PBS.
Bridwell will be in Indiana for the seventh annual scholarship gala for IU Kokomo and Purdue University School of Technology at Kokomo on Saturday, Sept. 28. Author and illustrator Bridwell will be guest of honor for the event, set in Alumni Hall of the Kelley Student Center. The campus will salute the Kokomo native for his encouragement of young readers. The gala’s circus theme, “Under the Big Top,” plays off a 1978 Bridwell title, Clifford at the Circus. Clifford is Bridwell’s most famous fictional creation, a gigantic red dog who shares simple but imaginative adventures with his owner, Emily Elizabeth. Early childhood educators applaud Bridwell’s books for mirroring the everyday experiences of youngsters, while reinforcing lessons of friendship and responsibility. The evening starts at 6 p.m. with a silent auction. Dinner will be at 7 p.m., followed by dancing to the Cool City Swing Band. Campus gala committee members are Linda Bielewicz, Nancy Dailey, Anne-Marie Damler, Minda Douglas, Cathy Hightower, Jan Hulet, Kathy Reel and Allan Safianow. The 2001 gala raised $23,544 for scholarships. For more information about the gala, call Susan Kinsella, IUK’s new director of annual giving, at 765- 455-9412. If you can’t make the gala, plan to see the exhibit Illustrious Herron Illustrators, which runs through Oct. 5 at the Herron Gallery, 1701 N. Pennsylvania St., Indianapolis for work by Bridwell, Rob Day (illustrations in Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Playboy and Time); Disney illustrators Bill Justice (illustrations in the animated films Snow White, Pinnocho, Fantasia, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh and creator of Chip n‘ Dale) and Bill Peet (whose work includes 34 children’s books, The Caboose Who Got Loose and Chester the Worldly Pig); and the late Paul Wehr, an illustrator for Stevens-Gross Studios, Chicago, whose clients included Coca Cola, Ford, Standard Oil and International Harvester. Wehr is perhaps best known for the design of the Indiana Sesquicentennial U.S. postage stamp (at right). Herron School of Art (IUPUI): |
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Publication date: September 20, 2002
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