Random Illustrator Feature: Kate Endle
February 3rd, 2009 by jules
I’ve been wanting to do a quick post about nonfiction goddess April Pulley Sayre’s Trout Are Made of Trees, illustrated by Kate Endle, for a while now. It was released last year by Charlesbridge—way back in January, I believe—and sometimes I’m just slow.
It’s a good thing I waited a bit, though, since I was eventually able to chat a bit with Kate, the illustrator, who studied at The Columbus College of Art & Design, and convince her to share some of her other art work in one of these in-their-own-words random illustrator features I’m fond of doing these days.
Opening this post is one of Kate’s collages, not from that title, but more on that in a minute.
This post follows on the heels of the Carin Berger interview, which is fitting; both Carin and Kate use as their medium mixed-media collage. And what a perfect choice-of-medium for this particular title, about how all living things—trout, the leaves of Fall, bacteria, algae, caddisflies, shrimp, bears, people—are part of the circle of eating, growing, living, and dying. As Kirkus nailed it, “{t}he illustrations are a testament to the fact that wondrous things can be created out of the pieces of other things, and thus, they reinforce the theme of interconnectedness that is the heart of this offering.” If you haven’t seen it, check it out (especially if you work in a zoo or nature center or an elementary science classroom).
“When Charlesbridge sent me the manuscript,” Kate told me, “I was beyond excited. I had been thinking about how much fun it would be to work on a book that supports the environment. At the time, I was volunteering for the Seattle Aquarium, which was a great source for research. Also, at the same time, I was involved with donating art work to a local organization. When one of their volunteers stopped by to pick up my art, we got to talking. I asked him what he did, other than volunteering, and he told me he was a fish biologist! The timing of everything was meant to be. He was a wealth of information and made working on the book much more relaxing. He’s now a good friend of mine.
A lot of the papers I used in the book are hand-colored, but some are not.
I grew up on a river in Ohio and illustrating Trout are Made of Trees was a nice time-travel back to my childhood.”
As I said, Kate’s also here to share some of her other very child-centered collage work, so well-suited for the youngest of children, so I’ll feature that below, let the art speak for itself, and then sign off.
Pictured left is one of Kate’s editorial illustrations for Utne Reader, and immediately below is one of her illustrations from Bella and the Bunny, written by Andrew Larsen and published by Kids Can Press in ’07.
Kate also sells her art here at Etsy.com. Pictured below the Bella illustration “are a few of the images from my store,” Kate said. “I sell originals and prints.” Don’t you envy the pure glee of the gentleman with the butterflies in his stomach below? I believe he just might be in love.
Even more of Kate’s work is featured at her site.
Many thanks to Kate for stopping by! Enjoy her textures and patterns and papers and such below.
TROUT spreads from TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES © 2008 by April Pulley Sayre. Illustration © 2008 Kate Endle. Published by Charlesbridge. Watertown, MA. Posted with permission of publisher. All rights reserved.
I love, love, love, love, LOVE paper cut-outs. How I wish I could do art like this! How gorgeous. I love how everything has a heart — or an inner life — somehow depicted by the artist. I really love Kate Endle’s work!
Love her style. Exudes childlike emotion.
Also, the illo of the couple (man with moustache), looks like DH and me!
Yeah, I’m particularly fond of the those two wee brown owls. I want to see that one in person and reach out and touch the papers. And, yes, there is much heart here, TadMack, what with all those many comforting circle shapes in her work.
People like Kate make it look easy, don’t they? But my daughter and I were playing with some scissors and papers and cloths yesterday, and, well….it’s not. That’s why we leave collage to people like her and Carin B.
Yay, Kate! I had been wanting to work with her for years, after she sent a couple postcard samples my way that I lurrrved. When TROUT came along, I know she’d be perfect. (See, illustrators: sending postcards works!)
-Emily Mitchell (Charlesbridge)
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Oh, Jules, me and you with those owls. Sweeet! And dancing heart man??? Love these dearly…
one of these in-their-own-words random illustrator features I’m fond of doing these days
Yes, I noticed — and my head’s about to explode with all the extra 7-Imp goodness. O for the days when it all sort of just dripped… out… of… the… goodness-filter-basket. (KIDDING.)
These are wonderful, but you know that already. And TROUT/TREES is a stupendous idea for a book.
About the pair of owls silhouetted against the sun, I love about ’em that they’re smiling. And you’ve got to look to see how you can even tell that; if you breeze by ’em, you just think Oh, smiling owls, sure, on to the next… But it’s those teeny tiny barely-there little diagonal snips in the beaks which make that happen. Wizard!
Somewhere in your interviews, do you know if any collage-to-book artists have ever explained how exactly a one-of-a-kind 3D illustration becomes a 2D page, but one which still suggests the third dimension, narrow/shallow shadows and all?
(I first thought about this question when you posted about Wabi sabi back in December, but promptly forgot it!)
Truly stunning. Thank you for making me smile so much on a hot summer’s evening!
JES, what we do at Charlesbridge is send the art to Gamma One (typically) or another production house. They take super-high-resolution digital photgraphs of the art, which pick up the three-dimensionality/shadows/etc. of the art, and those are what we send to the printer.
Beautiful work and concept! Thanks yet again for expanding my world.
Oh, my gosh, Kate! All your stuff is awesome, but that piece at the top is adorable.
7-Imp is officially the coolest site.
Thank you, EM! (I love knowing details of book production.)
I like the owls best of all! How cute!
How did I miss this book, Jules? Thanks for pointing it out. I am getting it on order for the library IMMEDIATELY.
Also, you had to point out that Etsy store, right? I mean, THERE ARE NOTECARDS AND POSTCARDS. And I feel in the deepest part of my heart that I need one of those prints. My tax return should be coming soon…
Hi Everybody! Thanks so much to everyone that commented on my art and took the time to vist my site and Etsy store. Much appreciated!
[…] know what I like about this book? Kate Endle’s collage art. Jules got me started on Endle and her wonderful, wonderful notecards a couple years ago, and I remain a fan (of Jules and Endle, […]