Daniel Minter is a painter and illustrator. His paintings, carvings, block prints and sculptures have been exhibited both nationally and internationally at galleries and museums, including the Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Bates College, Hammonds House Museum, Northwest African American Art Museum, Museu Jorge Amado and the Meridian International Center.
Minter lived in Chicago and Brooklyn before moving to Portland, Maine where he now resides with his wife, Marcia, and their son, Azari. From his base in Maine, Minter uses his art as a tool for dialogue with his community. He is the co-founder and creative visionary of the Portland Freedom Trail. Minter serves on the board of The Ashley Bryan Center, The Illustration Institute and teaches at the Maine College of Art. He serves as board chair of The Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations.
Minter has illustrated 11 children’s books, including Step Right Up; How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness, and Ellen’s Broom which won a Coretta Scott King Illustration Honor; Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story, winner of a Best Book Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio; and The Riches of Oseola McCarty, named an Honor Book by the Carter G. Woodson Awards.
He was commissioned in both 2004 and 2011 to create Kwanzaa stamps for the U.S. Postal Service.