AMHERST – The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is initiating a six-month celebration for the museum’s 20th anniversary beginning on what would have been Carle’s 93rd birthday, June 25, with the exhibition “Celebrating Collage” on display through Dec. 31.

According to a press release, the exhibition displays work from 20 picture-book artists who specialize in collage including well-known “giants of the medium like Ashley Bryan, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, Ezra Jack Keats, and Leo Lionni to vanguard artists of today, who continue to innovate and expand the art form. Together, the 90 featured collages tell the story of a technique that has been at the creative heart of picture books for half a century.”

Chief Curator Ellen Keiter said narrowing down the field to 20 artists was a difficult task but said that she coordinated with the museum’s director and educator to select a diverse group of artists, perspectives and subjects with the goal of presenting different working styles including a variety of classic titles and contemporary ones.

“That’s something we consider for all of our exhibitions, both individually and collectively,” Keiter said in an interview with Reminder Publishing. “We have three galleries at The Carle, one of which is always dedicated to Eric Carle and his collage art. When we consider our exhibition schedule, looking across the three galleries at any given time, we always aim for a diversity of artists and themes and then individually within each exhibition, especially with a group thematic show like ‘Celebrating Collage,’ it’s always our goal to represent different artists, different perspectives, different subject matter. It’s very much ingrained in all of our exhibition work at The Carle.”

Keiter has been a curator for 25 years and joined The Carle over seven years ago. She has a background in art history but focused more on contemporary art until joining The Carle where she said it was “invigorating” to become familiarized and involved in the picture book world.

Each artist being featured will be represented by three to five works. Living artists included written statements describing the importance of collage to their work while editors and scholars wrote on behalf of the deceased artists. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of those artists who are featured and passed away during the planning of the show, named Ashley Bryan, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert and Steven Jenkins.

On June 25 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. viewers can meet some of the artists and enjoy a day of stories, gallery talks and book signings. Keiter encouraged the public to stay tuned and visit the museum during the six-month celebration which will feature other exhibitions opening in September and November.

The late Eric and Barbara Carle co-founded the museum in November 2002. According to a press release announcing the celebration, The Carle houses more than 11,000 objects including 7,300 permanent collection illustrations in its 43,000-square-foot facility. Since opening, nearly 1,000,000 visitors have enjoyed the museum’s three art galleries, art studio, theater, libraries, educational programs and Bobbie’s Meadow outdoor space which combines art and nature.

“I feel incredibly proud and humbled to steward the collection here at the museum and to share it with our public and wider online audience,” Keiter said. “When the museum opened in 2002, it was really the largest single museum dedicated to picture book art in the country. Illustration art has historically been seen as a means to an end and very often the art for picture books and for magazines and other publications was discarded or given away to employees by publishers after it was reproduced in whatever format it is. I think The Carle has shown that this is art that is worth preserving, caring for, and disseminating to the public. It reflects our history in this country and around the world and what’s important to people at any given time.”