I am fascinated by capturing moments in time that celebrate joy, love, resilience, and the strength of community and family. I create work that is not just nostalgic but a testament to the spirit of community and family and their role in shaping who we are. My passion is creating energetic, expressive work full of personality, typically incorporating a vibrant and fresh color palette. 

I have had a love of art and drawing from an early age and found great inspiration growing up directly across from the Brooklyn Museum.

I make art and live in the Washington D.C. metro area with my husband and two dogs, Sugar and Spice.

Education

I have a BBA in Marketing from Howard University and a BFA in Animation from the Academy of Art University.

Partial client list

Abrams - Scholastic - Lerner Books - Rebel Girls - Penguin Random House - Zonderkids - Viking Books - Abrams - Little Brown Books - Ward’s Science - Dinardo Books

Awards and Recognition

• 2024 Northern Lights Book Award Winner of the Food Category - Peaches

• 2024 Endies Endpaper Awards! Winner of the Tastiest Category - Peaches

• 2024 Black Caucus ALA Best of the Best List for 2024 – Justice Rising

• 2024 Jane Addams Peace Association Children’s Book Finalist – Justice Ketanji

• California Reading Association Eureka Honor 2023 - Justice Ketanji

• Jane Addams Peace Association Award Finalist 2023 - Justice Ketanji

• Social Justice Literature Award 2023 - Fiction Picture Book - Today Is Different

• Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Books of the Year List, Winner, 2022 - Today Is Different

• Gold House Book Club Book, Winner, 2022 - Today Is Different

• Common Sense Media Selection - Families - Justice Rising

• 2022 Northern Lights Book Award Winner of the Religious/Spiritual Category - A Prayer For Our Country

Selected Exhibitions

• Good Times, Before Heading In, After Sunday Service, and The Hats - American Illustration 43, Selected Winner, 2024

• Bless the Hands that Prepared It - Sustenance Group Exhibition, 2024

• Family Dinner No. 1 - American Illustration 42 Selected Winner, 2023

• A Day at Jones Beach, late 1950, American Illustration 41 Selected Winner, 2022

• “Sisters in Law,” American Illustration 40 Selected Winner, 2021

• Vote Baby Vote - “UNDEFEATED: Canvas(s)ing the Politics of Voter Suppression Since Women’s Suffrage,” West Virginia University Art in the Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2021

For questions about my availability, email Claire Easton at Painted Words.
For Fine Art Inquiries, email hello@kimscollectionofstuff.