Event Information DESCRIPTION Mary GrandPre began her career as an illustrator. The path that led her to that point started with her education at the Minneapolis Collage of Art and Design. Her passion for light, color, drawing and design came together in evocative paintings, using a variety of mediums. Much of her focus was creating paintings for numerous picture books and book covers. While she has illustrated over 20 picture books, she is perhaps best known for her illustrations on the Harry Potter books. She has also worked as the conceptual artist on Dreamwork’s animated film “Antz” and on Blue Sky Studios’ animated film “Ice Age”. Her book illustrations possess highly personalized lyrical story interpretations, and now her fine art paintings carry on with a combination of suggested narrative and abstract forms, creating a new kind of territory of her. .. and ultimately for the viewer. Her many awards include ABBA American Booksellers Book of the Year 1999 / Harry Potter Series and the Caldecott Honor Award, 2015 / The Noisy Paint Box, The Sound and Color of Vasily Kandinsky.