Friday Interview: Artist Renee Graef

Happy Friday! Today I'm thrilled to share my conversation with award-winning artist Renée Graef, who is well known for illustrating the Little House picture books, the American Girl Kirsten books, and the Nordic alphabet series, as well as eighty other books.

Artist Interview: Renée Graef

I am honestly so honored to be talking to you. Let's start at the beginning. How old were you when you first started drawing, or did you simply begin as a child and never stop?

Like most artists, I began drawing from a very early age. I recently found a teacher's note on my 2nd grade report card that said that my "artistic endeavors" were getting in the way of my academics. I thought that was too funny!

When you received your degree in art at the University of Wisconsin, did you know you wanted to be a children's illustrator?

I wanted to be an illustrator although my degree was in fine art. I was fortunate to receive a work-study job as an in-house illustrator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When I graduated, it became a full-time job for four years. In addition, I free-lanced on the side for ad agencies. I became interested in children's book illustration when I saw a friend's amazing collection of children's books. I specifically remember loving Chris Van Allsburg's first book, "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi" and the Edward Gorey books. I started working on the Kirsten books shortly after finishing the job at the University in 1984. We had no idea back then that American Girl would be so successful.

A lot of your work involves the American midwest of pioneer times, and you capture it beyond beautifully. Have you spent a lot of time in that area of the country?

I have lived almost my whole life in Wisconsin. I just love driving by the open fields of the farm land. I feel like that really feeds my soul. I now split my time between Los Angeles and Milwaukee.

What did you enjoy drawing or illustrating the most in your career?

I would say I enjoy drawing almost everything, although I am partial to historical work, animals, the Nordic culture, folklore, national parks, travel, landscapes, lighthouses and anything to do with water. Like I said, almost everything! Currently, I am loving my work on a series of books featuring "Lulu and Rocky", two little fox cousins. It is fun to draw the different animal characters. Eventually, I would like to work on a book that has more of a Scandinavian look. Carl Larsson has been one of my favorite artists and was an inspiration for the Kirsten books.

The Little House picture books and the American Girl Kirsten books were literally my childhood. When I look at the illustrations today, I remember how safe and content I felt at that time in my life. It warms me up inside to look at your pictures.

I feel so fortunate to have illustrated the two well-known pioneer girls in children's literature. It was not planned, it just happened that way. Magical things happen if you keep working on a goal.I like the Louis Pasteur quote, "Chance favors the prepared mind". I love that you felt safe and content in my illustrations. I think it is important to have pictures around us that make us feel safe and secure or pictures that have a sense of adventure in an inspiring way.

Do you ever meet people like me, who grew up with your work? What has been one memorable encounter?

I hear from many of the readers of my books now, some of them are mothers now who have their own children of their own. It is great to see that some of them are writers or artists now. With Facebook and Instagram, it is much easier to connect with people. Social media is such a wonderful venue for showing some of the work that I have done. The work that I have posted is only a small fraction of the work in my flat files. There have been so many memorable encounters with people who grew up with my books, it is hard to pick out just one!