Carson Friedman Ellis (born October 5, 1975) is a Canadian-born American children's book illustrator and artist. She received a

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

for her children's book '' Du Iz Tak?'' (2016). Her work is inspired by folk art, art history, and mysticism.

Early life and career

Ellis grew up in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and studied painting at the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

, where she was influenced by art history, particularly

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portra ...

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 192 ...

, and

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

. She has written poetry since she was a teenager, though she didn't study writing in school. She began her career as a fine artist in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and exhibited a solo show of oil paintings at a gallery in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. Her first illustration work began when she met Colin Meloy at the University of Montana and designed gig posters for his college band Tarkio.

Career

Ellis is an illustrator of several children's books, including the ''New York Times'' bestseller '' Wildwood,'' written by Colin Meloy; '' The Composer is Dead,'' written by

Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...

; and '' The Mysterious Benedict Society,'' written by Trenton Lee Stewart. She received a 2010 Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators for her art in ''Dillweed's Revenge,'' by

Florence Parry Heide Florence Parry Heide (February 27, 1919 – October 23, 2011) was a bestselling American children's writer. Early life Born in Pittsburgh, Heide spent most of her childhood in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Her father, who was a banker, died w ...

. She collaborated again with Meloy on the second and third novels in the '' Wildwood Chronicles'' series, '' Under Wildwood'' (2012) and ''

Wildwood Imperium ''Wildwood Imperium: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book Three'' is a 2014 Children's literature, children's fantasy novel by The Decemberists' singer-songwriter Colin Meloy, illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. The novel, the second sequel to ''Wildw ...

'' (2014). She is also well known for her work with the indie folk rock band The Decemberists, for whom she has created album art, T-shirts, websites, posters, and stage sets. Her album and EP artwork for The Decemberists include '' 5 Songs'' (2001), ''

Castaways and Cutouts ''Castaways and Cutouts'' is the first full-length album by The Decemberists, originally released on May 21, 2002, on Hush Records and reissued on May 6, 2003, on Kill Rock Stars. The album's title is taken from a lyric of the song "California ...

'' (2002), ''

Her Majesty the Decemberists ''Her Majesty the Decemberists'' is the second full-length album by The Decemberists, released on September 9, 2003, by Kill Rock Stars. The song "Song for Myla Goldberg" was written years earlier, after Colin Meloy had been a media escort for t ...

'' (2003), '' The Tain'' (2004), '' The Crane Wife'' (2006), '' The Hazards of Love'' (2009), '' What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World'' (2015), and '' I'll Be Your Girl'' (2018). Ellis was nominated twice for Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package (2015 and 2018). She has also created album artwork for other musicians, such as Laura Veirs, Beat Circus, and Weezer. In 2015, Ellis wrote and illustrated her first solo children's book, ''Home'', which explores different types of domiciles around the world, underwater, and in space. The book has been criticized for the manner in which it glosses over colonization and the stereotyping of various ethnicities. Ellis' second solo children's book, '' Du Iz Tak?'', published in 2016, is written entirely in an invented "bug language." The book received a

Caldecott Honor Award The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servi ...

(2017) and an E.B. White Read Aloud Award (2017). In 2016, Ellis collaborated with Portland-based wallpaper studio, Juju Papers, on a wallpaper design titled ''Barn Owls and Hollyhocks.'' The design was inspired by Ellis' move to a small barn outside of Portland. Ellis created the cover and interior illustrations for Meloy's 2017 middle grade book ''The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid'', published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

. The board game ''Illimat'', for which Ellis created illustrations, was published in November 2017 after a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

campaign. The game was written and designed by The Decemberists and Keith Baker of

Twogether Studios Twogether may refer to: * ''Twogether'' (film), 1992 * ''Twogether'' (Bucky Pizzarelli and John Pizzarelli album), 2001 * ''Twogether'' (John Hicks and Frank Morgan album), 2005–06 * ''Twogether'' (TV program), 2020 {{disambig ...

. Ellis created illustrations for Susan Cooper's ''The Shortest Day'', published in October 2019. Carson Ellis is also an editorial illustrator and fine artist, having worked for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'', and ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

''.

Wildwood Chronicles

The '' Wildwood Chronicles'', illustrated by Ellis and written by her husband, musician Colin Meloy, was a bestselling series for middle-grade readers. When creating illustrations for the series, Ellis was inspired by

Pauline Baynes Pauline Diana Baynes (9 September 1922 – 1 August 2008) was an English illustrator, author and commercial artist. She contributed drawings and paintings to more than 200 books, mostly in the children's genre. She was the first illustrat ...

, illustrator of ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, te ...

'', as well as drawings in ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets ...

''.

List of works

As author and illustrator

*''Home'' (Candlewick Press, 24 February 2015) *'' Du Iz Tak?'' (Candlewick Press, 18 October 2016) *''In the Half Room'' (Candlewick Press, 13 October, 2020)

As illustrator only

;Series * The Mysterious Benedict Society series, written by Trenton Lee Stewart (

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

) **''The Mysterious Benedict Society'' (1 April 2008) ** ''The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey'' (1 May 2008) ** ''The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma'' (6 October 2009) ** ''Mr. Benedict's Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums'' (11 October 2011) ** ''The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict'' (10 April 2012) * The Wildwood Chronicles series, written by Colin Meloy (Balzer + Bray, a

imprint) **'' Wildwood'' (30 August 2011) ** '' Under Wildwood'' (25 September 2012) ** ''

'' (4 February 2014) ;Standalones * ''The Composer Is Dead'', written by Lemony Snicket (HarperCollins, 3 March 2009) * ''The Beautiful Stories of Life'', written by Cynthia Rylant (Harcourt Children's, 4 May 2009) * ''Stagecoach Sal'', written by Deborah Hopkinson (Hyperion, 4 September 2009) * ''Dillweed's Revenge'', written by Florence Parry Heide (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 6 September 2010) * ''Illimat'', board game created Keith Baker and The Decemberists (2017) *''The Shortest Day'', written by Susan Cooper (Candlewick Press, 22 October, 2019) * '' What Is Love?'', written by Mac Barnett (

Chronicle Books Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children. The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' ...

, 2021)

Personal life

Carson Ellis is married to Decemberists singer Colin Meloy, whom she met in college while designing posters for his alt-country band Tarkio. She and Meloy have two children, Henry "Hank" Meloy and Milo Cannonball Meloy. Both parents have spoken openly about their son Hank's diagnosis with

Asperger's Syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavi ...

. She lives on a farm outside

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

with her family.

References

External links

*
Interview by Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
a blog featuring children's illustration – with many of Ellis's images

at Design Sponge

at the Huffington Post * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Carson 1975 births Living people American children's book illustrators Artists from Portland, Oregon Artists from Vancouver American women illustrators 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists University of Montana alumni Album-cover and concert-poster artists 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists