Morrison, Frank 1971–

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Morrison, Frank 1971–

Personal

Born 1971, in MA; married; wife's name Connie; children: three sons, one daughter.

Addresses

Home—Morrison Arts, 659 Auburn Ave., Ste. G17, Atlanta, GA 30312.

Career

Illustrator. Gallery of Morrison Arts, Atlanta, OH, owner. Clothing designer for Phat Pharm label. Former break dancer and member of traveling dance troupe Sugar Hill Gang. Exhibitions: Solo exhibit at Savacaou Gallery, New York, NY, and Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Awards, Honors

Coretta Scott King/ John Steptoe New Talent Award for Illustration, 2005, for Jazzy Miz Mozetta by Brenda C. Roberts.

Illustrator

Brenda C. Roberts, Jazzy Miz Mozetta, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2004.

Debbie A. Taylor, Sweet Music in Harlem, Lee & Low (New York, NY), 2004.

Queen Latifah, Queen of the Scene, Laura Geringer Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Lissette Noman, My Feet Are Laughing, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2006.

Gaylia Taylor, George Crum and the Saratoga Chip, Lee & Low (New York, NY), 2006.

Alex Rodriguez, Out of the Ballpark, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

Melanie Turner-Denstaedt, Grandma's Good Hat, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

Winner of the 2005 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in Illustration, painter Frank Morrison creates art that reflects the rich culture of inner-city life. The Georgia-based artist's first book illustration project, Debbie A. Taylor's Sweet Music in Harlem, was dubbed "a confident debut" by a Publishers Weekly contributor while a Kirkus Reviews writer noted that Morrison's "elongated" characters move "against backgrounds that curve, slant, and boogie-woogie—but almost never stay still." Reviewing the book that won Morrison the 2005 award, Brenda C. Roberts' Jazzy Miz Mozetta, a Kirkus Reviews writer noted that the story about a woman who loves to dance is paired with a "colorful jumble of exaggeratedly long, skinny limbs in dynamic illustrations that dance to the beat of a fresh, rhythmic story." "Morrison captures the linear angles and smooth curves of jazz swing" concluded Mary Elam in a review of the same book for School Library Journal,

Out of the Ballpark, a picture book by New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, focuses on a boy dreaming of becoming a sports star and was considered by many to be a perfect match for Morrison's art. The illustrator's "stylized paintings capture the story's energy and his playfully skewed perspectives keep things light," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, while in School Library Journal Marilyn Taniguchi noted that the artist's "action-packed illustrations, in vivid hues, help keep the story moving at a brisk pace." In Lissette Norman's My Feet Are Laughing, his artwork, which Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman described as "full of swirling curves and angles," exhibits versatility, exuding Morrison's characteristic energy as well as capturing the story's more subdued moments," in Rochman's view.

Discussing Morrison's work for Queen Latifah's Queen of the Scene, about a young African-American girl who excels at all playground activities, School Library Journal contributor Mary Hazelton wrote that the illustrator's "elastic-bodied figures are graceful and brazen," making each page of the picture book "spin with movement and action." A Kirkus Reviews writer had a similar assessment of the work, writing that "Morrison's illustrations burst with originality, vibrancy and humor." The illustrator's "bold signature acrylics" for the book "capture the rhythm of the text and the energy" of Latifah's text, the critic added, and capture the upbeat attitude reflected by the story's urban neighborhood setting."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2004, Terry Glover, review of Sweet Music in Harlem, p. 1564; April 1, 2006, Linda Perkins, review of George Crum and the Saratoga Chip, p. 46, and Hazel Rochman, review of My Feet Are Laughing, p. 49.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2004, review of Sweet Music in Harlem, p. 402; October 1, 2004, Brenda C. Roberts, review of Jazzy Miz Mozetta, p. 967; March 15, 2006, Gaylia Taylor, review of George Crum and the Saratoga Chip, p. 301; October 1, 2006, review of Queen of the Scene, p. 1022; February 1, 2007, review of Out of the Ballpark, p. 128.

Publishers Weekly, May 24, 2004, review of Sweet Music in Harlem, p. 61; January 3, 2005, review of Jazzy Miz Mozetta, p. 54; October 2, 2006, review of Queen of the Scene, p. 61; February 5, 2007, review of Out of the Ballpark, p. 58.

School Library Journal, July, 2004, Jane Marino, review of Sweet Music in Harlem, p. 89; December, 2004, Mary Elam, review of Jazzy Miz Mozetta, p. 118; December, 2006, Mary Hazelton, review of Queen of the Scene, p. 101; May, 2007, Marilyn Taniguchi, review of Out of the Ballpark, p. 107.

Toldedo Blade, February 1, 2007, Tahree Lane, "Atlanta Artist Plays with the Human Form."