Dare Coulter. Photo: Joshua Steadman for WALTER Magazine.

The first thing one learns about working with Dare Coulter is to expect the unexpected. Her beautiful world has its own rules of order and its own rhythms and rhymes. Adages, idioms, metaphors need to be rewritten. Case in point — for most, a picture may be worth a thousand words. With Dare, a word is worth a thousand pictures.

When she was invited by editor Margaret Raymo and art director Whitney Leader-Picone to be considered as illustrator of a lead picture-book manuscript, Dare was asked to create two sample sketches. The challenge was a bit more complex, as it required rendering samples of two distinct timelines that run through the course of the story. Complexity energizes Dare. She was ready to meet this assignment head-on.

Ah, but then the manuscript came in. When she saw that it was written by Kwame Alexander, she became flustered and did what I soon learned would be standard operating procedure. She called her mother.

Some kind of magic happened, as soon thereafter, Dare clearly mustered inner strengths and steeped herself into the manuscript. She was lit and determined to do whatever it would take to become the illustrator of An American Story.

Dare’s studio is a small space filled with big paintings on wooden panels, small pieces of handmade jewelry, clay sculptures of human figures and body parts in varying sizes from miniature to full-scale, and drawings and drawings filling flat file drawers. Mixed-media art fills the studio and overflows into the hallway and throughout the house. Dare’s art knows no bounds.

Likewise, Dare’s determination to submit two sample pieces that would win over the editor, art director, and Kwame was unbound. Ideas were flowing. Out came sketchpads, Masonite boards, wooden planks, charcoal sticks, pencils, packets of clay, a fish tank, cameras, lighting gels, tubes of acrylics, and assorted brushes and applicators.

Two sample pieces could not possibly demonstrate Dare’s vision. So, now it is my turn to let pictures tell thousands of words and words tell thousands of pictures — here are the initial “sketches” that Dare turned in for this assignment. They proved to be the blueprint for what would become An American Story by Kwame Alexander as illustrated by Dare Coulter.

Expect the unexpected from Dare Coulter.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine: Special Issue: ALA Awards. For more speeches, profiles, and articles, click the tag ALA 2024.

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