Steven Weinberg writes, illustrates and makes art all about color! He’s written and/or illustrated fifteen books for kids about everything from backpacking to Timbuktu, to all your favorite home appliances, to the horrors (and joys) of being a middle kid. These books have been translated into other languages; won awards and distinctions; and been called “brilliant” by Dave Pilkey, “thrillingly shameless” by the New York Times, and “guaranteed to fuel read aloud energy” by Publishers Weekly. From his home in the Catskills, NY, he paints mountains and fish that have been featured in museums, galleries, book covers, magazines, hotels, and some beer cans too. And just to make sure he never has a dull moment, along with his wife Casey Scieszka, he owns and operates the Spruceton Inn: a Catskills Bed and Bar. Their annual Artist Residency has hosted more than one hundred artists and counting.

WHAT IS COLOR? The Global and Sometimes Gross Story of Pigments, Paint, and the Wondrous World of Art is a wide roaming and inclusive romp that connects cow pee, squashed bugs, rainbow flags and pink triangles, mud paintings, Yayoi Kusama's dots, Buddhist monks' robes, Kerry James Marshall's extensive palette of blacks, Renaissance forgery, mummies, and more. It's a 150 page hybrid picture book graphic novel that explores the science and stories behind pretty much every pigment humans have made, plus their connection to the history of art around the world.   This event is supported by the James M. Carpenter Fund (Department of Art at Colby College) and co-sponsored by the Biology Department, the Center for the Arts and Humanities, the Colby Arts Office, the Colby College Museum of Art, the Chemistry Department, and the Education Department.