Author/Illustrator, T.L. McBeth, better known as Trenton McBeath, did his hometown proud on Sunday, February 3, as he gave his first Mazza presentation since being published. Trenton spoke about his latest title, Robot in Love, sharing the process from conception of the idea (which started in about 5th grade) to pitching the idea to his publisher, and then finally being a published book. The audience enjoyed learning about Trenton’s journey since he left Findlay to pursue his dream of being an author and illustrator. Trenton has several more books under contract for publishing and looks forward to presenting again at...

Can you believe 1,092 people converged upon the campus of University of Findlay to celebrate Legos Funday Sunday-style? What a turnout! There were over 129 volunteers and 26 different stations. The Greater Toledo Lego Club, Bigelow Hill Intermediate School Lego Club, Snapology, and Girl Scouts of Western Ohio were just a few of the clubs that participated in the brick-filled fun. Of course there were plenty of art activities and our ever-popular face painting station. Many of our own UF students volunteered at various stations such as American Sign Language, Computer Science, Physics, the Newhard Planetarium, and Japanese Culture. “Goofy...

The biggest awards in picture books were shown on the big screen on Jan. 28 in the Mazza Museum. Volunteers were invited to join the staff to watch the Youth Media Awards given by the American Library Association. Coffee, and some Caldecott quizzing made the morning a fun time for all. Of course, we kept track of our Mazza artist friends who were recognized for their books. Sophie Blackall, Brian Lies, Paul O. Zelinski, Scott Magoon, Dan Santat, Yuyi Morales, Grace Lin, Ian Schoenherr, Jarrett Krosoczka and Sergio Ruzzier have all been to Mazza or been visited by the Mazza Study Tour and...

The Mazza Fall Weekend Conference had something for everyone! The weekend kicked off with the awarding of the Mazza Medallion of Excellence to David A. Carter. The award is given bi-annually to an illustrator who shows diversity of style in their work. David was a perfect choice for this award due to his attention to age and development with his work. We enjoyed hearing his talk about his career and muses as well. Saturday was full of excitement beginning with author Phil Bildner whose energy was infectious! His presentation told about his work as a teacher in the Bronx and...

The first Funday Sunday of the 2018-2019 season, sponsored by Fifth third Bank and built around the Homecoming 2018 theme “Where Your Story Began,” was met with lots of excitement!   With 18 stations to choose from, more than 300 children and their parents were able to learn about Education, Science and Occupational Therapy at UF, as well as visit international stations, and those based on the Newhard Planetarium on campus. Marathon Center for Performing Arts, Marathon Petroleum Co., YWCA American sign Language, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) and STEM stations were all represented. A presentation was given...

When an artist is asked how an idea came about, the answer usually reveals depth and planning. These ideas often come about over years of weighty ponderance and intense suffering for the cause. So, when Greg Manchess, the author and illustrator of the young adult novel “Above the Timberline,” was at the University of Findlay recently and was asked the question regarding how he came up with the idea for the novel, his answer was a little unorthodox. “I literally had to start making stuff up,” Manchess said. “People were asking, ‘What’s the story?’ and I really didn’t know.” He...

Two new art exhibits, Wordless Picture Books and American Tall Tales, are up in the Wilson Gallery! Wordless Picture Books feature picture book art by Mike Wohnoutka, Chris Raschka, Craig Brown, Arthur Geisert, Bill Thomson and Molly Idle. American Tall Tales shows books that are about individuals like Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. Artwork by Steven Kellogg, Michael McCurdy, Edward McCandlish, Don Vanderbeek, Blair Lent, Lynne Rowe Reed, Will Eisener, Bert Dodson and John Steven Gurney can be found in that gallery.

On March 19th, 20 students from the MFA program at University of Hartford visited the Mazza museum. The group was led by illustrator C.F. Payne, the director of the program, and two other faculty members, Bill Thomson and Doug Anderson. Thomson spoke at Mazza’s Weekend Conference in 2017 and we have nine pieces of his art in the Mazza collection! Along with the students, Payne also brought two works of art to donate. The pieces are from Micawber, written by Jon Lithgow, and illustrated by Payne. The students took part in a tour of the museum and vault and then special guest, Christopher Canyon,...