Rachell Sumpter

Abrams books commissioned the services of Assistant Professor of Art Rachell Sumpter to create illustrations for the picture book titled “Down Under the Pier.” This picture book celebrates a deep reverence for the intertidal zone and portrays the sublime experiences of spending time on the beach in the company of treasured friends.

Professor Sumpter was commissioned by Abrams Books to illustrate a 32-page picture book celebrating the life and work of Juliette Fish Nichols.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/caroline-arnold/keeper-of-the-light-arnold/

“Sumpter’s carefully composed double-page illustrations show the lighthouse, harbor, and city from a variety of perspectives and add detail and dimension to the narration.”

Professor Sumpter was commissioned to illustrate “The Birthday of the World” picture book, a beautiful retelling of a timeless story about finding light in the darkness, one spark at a time.

In the beginning, there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof (No End), the source of life. And then, in the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. And then, perhaps because this is a Jewish story, there was an accident, and the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke. And the wholeness of the world, the light of the world was scattered into a thousand fragments of light, and they fell into all events and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.

https://www.haggadot.com/clip/story-birthday-world

“The painterly images are beautiful, making stunning use of color and light. . .Visually stirring.”
Kirkus Reviews