The U.S. Postal Service just unveiled the Maya Angelou Forever Stamp image. Along with the preview image comes the announcement that the First-Day-of-Issue stamp dedication ceremony, which will be free and open to the public, with limited seating, will take place April 7 at 11:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C., at the Warner Theater.
The imagery on the stamp comes from Atlanta-based artist Ross Rossin’s 2013 48” x 48” oil-on-canvas portrait of Angelou. Rossin says of his work, “I was compelled by the challenge to portray her forgiving smile and her aura of unconditional love and understanding that comes across when having a conversation with her.”
The stamp also contains this quote from Angelou: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” The stamp pane also carries a quote, this time from Angelou’s book “Letter to My Daughter,” which reads, “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.”
The full-size painting by Rossin will be available to view at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s collection until November 1.
The Maya Angelou Forever Stamp is available for preorder here to be delivered after April 7. In the meantime, the USPS is encouraging customers to tweet out #MayaForever to spread the word about the stamp.