Mary Azarian
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Mary Azarian (born 1940) is an American woodcut artist and children's book illustrator. She won the 1999 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. It tells about the life of Wilson Bentley. She lives in Plainfield, Vermont. She produces original prints and has illustrated over 50 books.
Early life
Azarian grew up on her grandfather's farm on the outskirts of Washington, DC. Her grandfathers farm had thousands of chicken along with geese that that would bother the customers that came to buy his eggs. Azarian's uncle grew vegetables. Being around her family gardens is what sparked her high interest in it. When she was young, she would spend her time exploring the woods and fields with her pony named Pasty.[1]
She began drawing and painting at an early age. In 4th grade, she did her first relief print of woodcuts and enjoyed it very much. This piece of art was a 3" x 4" lino block of an angel with the name NOEL at the bottom. She ran into a problem and learned a valuable lesson from this project; words must be reversed when doing a woodcut. Her finished product read LEON.[1]
Education
Azarian continued to lino cuts until she later attended Smith College, where she studied printmaking and painting. with one of the great 20th century printmakers, Leonard Baskin.[1]
Career
After she graduated from Smith College, she moved to farm in Vermont. Azarian and her husband farmed horses, oxen, chickens, a jersey milk cow, a sheep, and a goat. Azarian and her husband made their three sons helped them with their gardens.[1]
Before beginning her career as a full-time artist, Azarian taught in a one-room schoolhouse for three years. After she finished her three years of teaching, she decided she wanted to make a living selling woodcut prints. She began producing her prints by hand and in black and white. Eventually, she began adding color to her prints by hand. Finally, she found an old Vandercook proof press and began using it to produce the prints.[1]
Beginning in the 1970s, Azarian begun illustrating children’s books. Azarian is most interested in working with simple shapes.[1]
Family
Azarian is married to her husband Tom and together they have three sons.[1]
Selected works
- Snowflake Bentley, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
- A Farmer's Alphabet
- Barn Cat
- The Four Seasons of Mary Azarian[clarification needed]
References
External links
- Official website
- Mary Azarian at National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature
- Britannica Student Encyclopedia[dead link]
- Printmaking Demonstration by Mary Azarian, contributed by Sharon Barrett Kennedy 2002
- Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2013
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Articles with dead external links from August 2013
- 1940 births
- American children's writers
- American women illustrators
- American people of Armenian descent
- Caldecott Medal winners
- People from Washington County, Vermont
- Smith College alumni
- Living people
- Date of birth missing (living people)
