Inside the NCCIL gallery space

Earlier this week - during my whirlwind tour of the Texas Forts Trail - I visited The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, known locally as “The Nickle” (which I just discovered they spell NCCIL, of course). A massive gallery space in what was once a large auto repair shop, this unique museum focuses on just one children’s illustrator (or husband-wife team, as in the current showing of Leo and Diane Dillion) at a time.  Running three exhibits a year, they assemble the artwork for a two-year-long road trip after it’s shown on these walls, sent around the country to  libraries, children’s museums, and galleries. Up next: popular artist Mo Willems, whose computer-assembled art poses a bit of a challenge; his original sketches for his books will be shown. The accompanying bookstore inside the museum carries colorful works by artists who’ve already graced these walls; this particular gallery opened in 2000, after several years in other venues. For more information, visit their website!

Bart Smith and Sandra Friend

Nearly seven years ago, I met Seattle photographer Bart Smith at an FTA Annual Conference, where he’d come looking for me. He wanted to collaborate on a coffee table book about the Florida Trail, and I was all for it. The result of our partnership was Along the Florida Trail. Bart thru-hiked, keeping me posted on what he was seeing along the way, and I went out and did section hikes with friends. We met up in a few places, like the Big O Hike, to hike together.

I found out this spring from Bart’s wife, Bridgie, that Bart had almost met his goal of hiking ALL of the National Scenic Trails. What a feat! Today Bart met his goal: all trails complete! He wrapped up his hike of the CDT in Yellowstone.  Here’s the story.

His website’s gorgeous, with slide shows from every National Scenic Trail. I contributed the written content about the trails.  Bart’s website: Walking Down A Dream.

A little behind-the-software problem forced me to set up a new template for the website. Since I was tinkering anyway, I added some rich media components, including direct links to my Florida Hikes! podcast (with a version for iPhone, check it out!) and my latest videos on YouTube. New content, too! Learn about the writer’s workshops that I can teach, and check out the list of newspapers and magazines I’ve written for in the past decade while writing my books. 

New Look to the Website