Kinuko Yamabe Craft (born January 3, 1940) is a Japanese-born American painter, illustrator and fantasy artist.

Biography

Kinuko Yamabe Craft was born in

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on January 3, 1940. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1964 from the

Kanazawa College of Art The Kanazawa College of Art (金沢美術工芸大学, ''Kanazawa Bijutsu Kōgei Daigaku'', literally Kanazawa Art and Industrial Design University) (colloquially known as Bidai or Kanabi) is a public university in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. A ...

. After graduating, she came to the United States in 1964 to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she continued her studies in design and illustration. A majority of her earlier work was for the editorial and advertising market. Craft illustrated the cover art of the older editions of Shakespeare's work for the Folger Library. She has a passionate love of European fine art and draws on a deep knowledge of European art history in creating her work. She is most inspired by the works of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

, the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

, and Symbolist painters. Her work is done with a combination of artist oils and watercolor on clayboard gesso panels. Craft has illustrated eight picture books (fairy tale and classic mythology) designed for children and young readers. Since the mid-1990s, she has concentrated her efforts on art for fantasy book jackets. Her art has included paintings for the book covers of many well-known fantasy authors such as Patricia A. McKillip,

Juliet Marillier Juliet Marillier (born 27 July 1948) is a New Zealand-born writer of fantasy, focusing predominantly on historical fantasy. Biography Juliet Marillier was educated at the University of Otago, where she graduated with a BA in languages and a ...

, and Tanith Lee. She has also designed opera posters, fairy tale books and painted cover art for many national magazines such as ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', and ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

''. She has collaborated with many authors and worked with her husband Mahlon F. Craft and her daughter Marie Charlotte Craft. Her original paintings, drawings, and limited-edition prints are represented by Borsini-Burr Gallery in

Montara, California Montara () is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 2,833 at the 2020 census. Nearby communities include Moss Beach and Princeton-by-the-Sea. Etymology According to historical source ...

, and other galleries. Her art has been licensed on calendars, posters, greeting cards, and other consumer goods. Her fairy tale books are currently distributed in the USA, other English-speaking countries, Europe, Greece, China, and Korea. She has received numerous awards for her work, including several gold and silver medals from

the Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a Professional association, professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of I ...

, New York, NY. Ms. Craft’s work can be found in the collections of

National Portrait Gallery (United States) The National Portrait Gallery is a historic art museum between 7th, 9th, F, and G Streets NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Founded in 1962 and opened to the public in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections f ...

, the Museum of American Illustration in New York City, the National Geographic Society, and other corporate collections. She has been nominated five times since 2001 as a Best Artist for the

World Fantasy Awards The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous annu ...

and won the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist in 2011. Craft has also lectured and given workshops at numerous art schools, universities, and organizations, including Art Center College of Art and Design, San Jose State University, Rhode Island School of Design, Philadelphia College of the Arts (2012), and more.

Bibliography

Collections

* ''Kinuko Craft Drawings and Paintings: V. 1'' (Imaginosis, 2007)

Children's picture book illustration

* ''Rumpelstiltskin: A German Folk Tale from the Brothers Grimm'', translated by

Lucy Crane Lucy Crane (1842–1882) was an English writer, art critic and translator. She worked on children's stories and nursery rhymes and lectured in England on fine art. Life Crane was born in Liverpool in 1842 as the daughter of the portrait and minia ...

( Scott, Foresman, 1970) * ''Gingerbread Children'' (Poems), by Ilo Orleans ( Follett, 1973) * ''Bear, Wolf and Mouse'', by

Jan Wahl Jan Boyer Wahl (April 1, 1931 - January 29, 2019) was an American children's author. He was a prolific author of over 120 works, and was known primarily for his award-winning children's books, including ''Pleasant Fieldmouse'', ''The Furious Fl ...

( Follett, 1975) * ''Come Play with Me'', by

Margaret Hillert Margaret Hillert (January 22, 1920 – October 11, 2014) was an American author, poet and educator. Hillert, a lifelong resident of the state of Michigan, was known for her children's literature, having written over eighty books for beginning re ...

(Modern Curriculum Press, 1975) * ''Mother Goose ABC'' (

Platt & Munk Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...

, 1977) * ''What Is It?'', by

(Modern Curriculum Press, 1977; Perfection Learnin, 1989) * ''Classics: A Child's Introduction to Treasure Island, Black Beauty, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Robin Hood'' (

, 1977) * ''

The Tower of Geburah ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'' by John White ( IVP, 1978 edition only) * ''The Cookie House'', by

(Modern Curriculum Press, 1978) * ''The Black Swan'', by Paula Z. Hogan (

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

, 1979; Steck-Vaughn, 1987) * ''The Elephant'', by Paula Z. Hogan (

, 1980) * '' Treasure Island'', by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

( Steck-Vaughn, 1980) * ''Tales of the Ugly Ogres'', by Corinne Denan (Troll Communications, 1980) * '' The Twelve Dancing Princesses'', by Marianna Mayer ( Morrow Junior Books, 1989) * ''Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave'', by Marianna Mayer (

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 Cor ...

, 1994) * '' Cupid and Psyche'' by M. Charlotte Craft (

, 1996) * ''

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

'', by Marianna Mayer (

, 1998) * ''King Midas and the Golden Touch'', by M. Charlotte Craft (

, 1999) * '' Cinderella'', by

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

(SeaStar Books, 2000) * ''The Adventures of Tom Thumb'', by Marianna Mayer (

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''. ...

, 2001) * '' Sleeping Beauty'', by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

(

Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author and anthropologist, and the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1786 in Hanau, in ...

and

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...

) and Mahlon F. Craft (SeaStar Books] 2002; leather bound edition by

Easton Press Easton Press, a division of MBI, Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in premium leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, religion, poetry and art books, they publish a selection of science fiction an ...

, 2006) * ''

Beauty & the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine T ...

'', by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and Mahlon F. Craft (

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Il ...

, 2016)

Museum exhibitions

*The Cornish Colony Museum, Windsor VT "Heroines in Literature" (Winter 2006/2007)
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa
Kanazawa Japan "A Spring Night's Dream" Spring 2006

References

External links

Ten Dreams GalleriesBorsini-Burr GalleryKinuko Craft's Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craft, Kinuko Y. 1940 births Living people 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American painters 21st-century American women artists American artists of Japanese descent American children's book illustrators American speculative fiction artists American women painters Asimov's Science Fiction people Fantasy artists People from Kanazawa, Ishikawa Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese speculative fiction artists