The Kim Storage Gallery is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition Mostly Stripes: Assemblages and Collages featuring Madison Artist Kevin Henkes. 

Kim Storage Gallery is pleased to present Mostly Stripes – Assemblages and Collages, a solo exhibition featuring a striking body of paper collages and wooden box assemblages by acclaimed artist and author Kevin Henkes. In this exhibition, stripes emerge as a recurring visual language—sometimes bold and rhythmic, other times subtle and understated. Whether appearing as cut paper elements in collages or as linear structures within wooden box assemblages, stripes anchor Henkes’s explorations of space, repetition, and variation. The title Mostly Stripes reflects both the prevalence of this motif across the works and the artist’s playful acknowledgement of its quiet insistence.

Known internationally for his award-winning career as a children’s book author and illustrator, Henkes here extends his visual practice into new material realms. His collages, assembled from cut and layered papers, embody a delicate interplay of line, shape, and color. The wooden box constructions, by contrast, explore depth, texture, and spatial composition, creating intimate environments that feel at once playful and contemplative.

Drawing upon a lifetime of storytelling through images and words, Henkes’s fine art reflects the same clarity, restraint, and emotional resonance that distinguish his books. Influences range from modernist abstraction and collage traditions to the narrative sensibility honed across more than four decades of bookmaking. Together, these works offer a glimpse

into the artist’s evolving exploration of form, material, and imagination.

Kevin Henkes is the celebrated creator of over fifty books for young readers, spanning picture books, beginning readers, and novels. He is the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon and a Newbery Honor for Olive’s Ocean, among numerous other distinctions including Caldecott Honors, Geisel Honors, and the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. His work has been translated into many languages and cherished by generations of readers worldwide.

Beyond his literary acclaim, Henkes has long pursued drawing and painting as part of his daily practice. His collages and assemblages—now presented publicly in this exhibition—extend that visual language into a new and surprising register.

He lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Laura Dronzek, a renowned artist and illustrator.

Image: Cathedral, Mixed Media, 9 x 6.75 x 2.5"