Facts to Know About Charly Palmer:
Charly Palmer runs a full-service fine arts studio in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. In the past, he has taught drawing and painting at the post-secondary level. Most recently, he taught at both Spelman and Morehouse College. Charly Palmer’s work is in the private collection of many notable collectors including Anthony Mackie, Judith Jamison, Angela Bassett, and Tyler Perry Studios.
Upcoming Projects: A New Era
Charly is currently taking a break from fine arts to focus on one of his many creative interests: Black children’s books. He has already taken the children’s book industry by storm, having illustrated Mama Africa! by Kathryn Erskine and winning the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Illustrator Award for this publication (pictured above). Prior to his artistic involvement with children’s books, Charly has always been a lover and collector of them, especially those for Black children. As of now, he has finished three Black children’s books that are soon to be published:
Rainy Day Rocket Ship, which will be published by Denene Millner Books through Simon & Schuster
I Can Write The World, in its final stages to be published by 6ft. Publishing
Young Armstrong, being published by Scholastic Publishing
Currently in the works is Charly’s book cover for All Boys Ain’t Blue by George M. Johnson, an anticipated young adult book through Macmillan Publishing.
Prior to her passing, Charly was working with the late Ntozake Shange on two projects. One of the projects, The History of African Dance Globally, was unfortunately not able to be completed. The other project was the poem “I Am An Old Woman”, which will be released later in March.
Charly is currently working on 3 children’s books that will soon be announced.
Upcoming Events:
Charly illustrated the new cover to the classic movie, To Sleep With Anger, directed by Charles Burnett and distributed by the Criterion Collection. The movie will be rereleased on Blu-Ray in late March with Charly’s brand new artwork gracing the cover.
Charly has secured a deal with Universal Pictures on a project involving Issa Rae. Look out for updates about this endeavor.
Previous Events:
Charly had a successful private showing in LA (Los Angeles) through the Tilford Art Group. He also had a successful show this April show at the Mack Twins Gallery in Harlem.
Charly’s art was placed in the hit film The Hate You Give starring Amandla Stenberg. Those going to watch the film should look out for details to spot his artwork.
Recently Charly headed an art exhibition titled “Inspiration”, which was co-curated by Demetri Burke and Shancheze Johnson. The show featured the work of 16 young, up-and-coming black artists based in the Atlanta area along with himself. Best of show received the Irma Award, named after his mother, a cash prize to show admiration for the artists’ work and to help in their artistic careers. Those winners were:
1 st Place – Tim Short
2 nd Place – Brandon Maddox
3 rd Place – Tom Davii
4 th Place – Barry Duperon
The Irma Award will continue to grow and mature to help and inspire the new generation of young talent.