"A loving community"

photos are from a workshop Kah Yangni did with Lower School students during the GCA Book Fair

Illustrator and muralist Kah Yangni will be coming to campus in the spring as the twenty-sixth Britt Nelson Visiting Artist. They came to campus during the GCA Book Fair to lead some workshops and do a book signing, and the fifth and sixth grade newspaper caught up with them for this quick interview.
 

As Book Fair is in full swing, we have yet another author interview. Kah Yangni, an illustrator and muralist, will join us this time and be the Britt Nelson Visiting Artist in the spring. 

They were originally into illustrating and murals
I used to be an illustrator. As a college student, I used to draw for some student magazines or newspapers. Just because I liked to draw, they used to take illustrations for certain columns and such. I got to do the big musical cover for one of the shows. I used to always draw like everyone else as a kid, but college was definitely when I first got into illustration.
 

How did you find your art style and the colors that you represent in your artwork?  
I think it’s a combination of things I like, and maybe a little bit of my ADHD. I've always been drawn to bright colors. I love pink and purple. I have a mind that goes a mile a minute and my brain just pulls things from everyone, so I think it’s a little bit of stuff I’ve drawn naturally while also looking a little messy and just creative, so probably a combination of both.
 

What are the books that you have illustrated?
One is called The Making of Butterflies by Zora Neale Hurston and the other is Not He or She but Me. Those are my two main children's books. I also did the book cover for a young adult novel called Every Variable of Us by Charles Bush.
 

So how do you start illustrating jobs? Do you reach out to people or is it more complex?
Most of the time you work with publishers, so the way it works when you're illustrating is a publisher will buy a book or manuscript with no pictures, then they message you or your agent. Sometimes they’ll send you the manuscript, too, to see if you want to read over and do the book. Mostly they’ll give me free reign but occasionally I’ll get a message saying “Oh we want to have a bunch of kids on this page" or something similar. Other than that I’m mostly left to my own devices.
 

You are also a muralist, what is your process for creating murals and other art outside of books?
Some people just make them but for me, I work in Philadelphia, a city that is famous for these murals so there's an established art program for doing murals. Often they’ll come up with a topic and then reach out to artists to see if they want to do it. I think the most recent one I did was in Philly with a trans group home. Often they’ll have you submit something, almost like an application. After you start the mural, you’ll often do so many drawings to try and please as many people as possible, then finally start the painting process.
 

Do you eventually write and illustrate your own books? 
I do want to write my books, but it felt a little intimidating. I was into spoken world at Brown which was probably the last time I wrote a lot. I do want to get back to it though. The person who helped me get my first book said she would read my books if I ever wrote something. Is it not uncommon for authors to start as illustrators and then eventually publish their books.
 

Thank you so much to Kah Yangni for indulging the newspaper for an interview. Hopefully, you’ll get to see more and more of Gordon when you join us in the spring for the visiting artist program. Any last words?
I’m looking forward to being here. It feels like a loving community.