I’ve lived in Narrowsburg long enough to see a few friendly ghosts. I pass the Creamers’ house and there are Bernie and Carol out on the deck. I spy a riding mower and imagine Glenn Swendsen making the town tidy. I still expect to see Beth Peck sitting on her bench by the river. My neighbor Vera Williams’ books constantly jump off the shelf, demanding attention. 

Now you can see Vera too, thanks to an exhibition opening January 26 at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville, NC.

Vera studied at Black Mountain College beginning in 1945. She made art for the rest of her life. At the time of her death, The New York Times wrote: “Her illustrations, known for bold colors and a style reminiscent of folk art, were praised by reviewers for their great tenderness and crackling vitality.” 

Despite numerous awards and recognition for her children’s books, much of her wider life and work remains unexplored. This retrospective highlights her time at Black Mountain College, her political activism and her work as an author and illustrator.

The creator of 17 children’s books, including the Caldecott medal winner “A Chair for My Mother,” Williams grew up in the Bronx, NY. In 1936, when she was nine years old, one of her paintings, called   “Yentas opens a new window,” was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. 

As president of PEN’s Children Committee and member of the War Resisters League, Vera created a wide range of political and educational posters and journal covers. Williams protested the war in Vietnam and nuclear proliferation while supporting women’s causes and racial equality. 

In 1981, Williams was arrested and spent a month in a federal prison on charges stemming from her political activism.

In her late 40s, Williams embarked in earnest on her career as a children’s book author and illustrator, a career which garnered the NY Public Library’s recognition of “A Chair for My Mother” as one of the greatest 100 children’s books of all time. 

Williams’ personal life was as expansive as her art. In addition to her prolific picture making, Williams started and helped run a Summerhill-based alternative school, canoed the Yukon, and lived alone on a houseboat in Vancouver Harbor. She helped to organize and attended dozens of political demonstrations throughout her adult life.

A life that began in the Bronx and ended in Narrowsburg, NY the day after a DVAA retrospective of her work opened. She still has family in town, and more than a few homes hold her work. The piece we own is a self-portrait showing Vera walking up a staircase toward a door marked “Exit.” I’ve always wondered where she saw that door heading. Most likely onward, toward the future.