Meet Alma, she loves to paint. With each new bucket of paint she finds, brushstrokes by brushstrokes, page by page, magic appears. Welcome to Alma's world of colors and magic.

"A beautifully illustrated, tender story to be shared with all children, sure to evoke conversations about their names." --School Library Journal (starred review) If you ask her, Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela has way too many names: six! How did such a small person wind up with such a large name? Alma turns to Daddy for an answer and learns of Sofia, the grandmother who loved books and flowers; Esperanza, the great-grandmother who longed to travel; José, the grandfather who was an artist; and other namesakes, too. As she hears the story of her name, Alma starts to think it might be a perfect fit after all--and realizes that she will one day have her own story to tell. In her 2019 Caldecott Honor Book, Juana Martinez-Neal opens a treasure box of discovery for children who may be curious about their own origin stories or names.

Alma’s Dream translates through images and words the artistic journey of Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891–1978). Born in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas rose to fame as a prolific abstract artist after retiring from teaching art in the public school system. Her success later in life serves as an example to others that professional accolades can happen at any moment in one’s existence. This book was written for young readers ages three and older. The Alma Thomas story is an example of holding fast to one’s dream until the vision is realized.

"In a collaboration between curators at The Columbus Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art, Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful, works toward a primary objective: to introduce the Thomas-related materials housed at The Columbus Museum to a broader public, and to demonstrate how those materials reshape the narratives surrounding the artist. The wealth of material in The Columbus Museum's collection-from student work of the 1920s and marionettes from the 1930s, to home furnishings, ephemera, and little-known works on paper-offers a robust, but until now untold, account of Thomas's artistic journey. Taking cues from Thomas's wide-ranging interests and her broad network of collaborators and supporters, our museums also sought a scholarly approach that resonated with the artist's own disregard for silos, borders, and other arbitrary limitations. Assembling an interdisciplinary advisory committee of more than twenty scholars of diverse backgrounds and experiences, the curators convened a two-day gathering at the University of Maryland Center for Art and Knowledge at The Phillips Collection in January 2020 to illuminate varied aspects of Thomas's creativity and amplify the show's interdisciplinary approach. By applying interdisciplinary approaches to a range of artistic objects, the overall project presents new insights into Thomas's diverse forms of creativity while offering an inspiring look at how to lead a rich and beautiful life"--

Months before Alma López's digital collage Our Lady was shown at the Museum of International Folk Art in 2001, the museum began receiving angry phone calls from community activists and Catholic leaders who demanded that the image not be displayed. Protest rallies, prayer vigils, and death threats ensued, but the provocative image of la Virgen de Guadalupe (hands on hips, clad only in roses, and exalted by a bare-breasted butterfly angel) remained on exhibition. Highlighting many of the pivotal questions that have haunted the art world since the NEA debacle of 1988, the contributors to Our Lady of Controversy present diverse perspectives, ranging from definitions of art to the artist's intention, feminism, queer theory, colonialism, and Chicano nationalism. Contributors include the exhibition curator, Tey Marianna Nunn; award-winning novelist and Chicana historian Emma Pérez; and Deena González (recognized as one of the fifty most important living women historians in America). Accompanied by a bonus DVD of Alma López's I Love Lupe video that looks at the Chicana artistic tradition of reimagining la Virgen de Guadalupe, featuring a historic conversation between Yolanda López, Ester Hernández, and Alma López, Our Lady of Controversy promises to ignite important new dialogues.