Steiner, Joan

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STEINER, Joan

PERSONAL: Born in New Brunswick, NJ; daughter of Ignatz Emery (a merchant) and Klara (a homemaker; maiden name, Sommer) Steiner; married George A. Rodenhausen (an attorney), October 20, 1991; children: Holly Allen, two stepsons. Ethnicity: "Hungarian-American." Education: Barnard College, A.B. Hobbies and other interests: Birdwatching, gardening, theatre, movies, dance, opera.

ADDRESSES: Home—P.O. Box 130, Claverack, NY 12513. Agent—Amy Berkower, Writers House, 21 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Author and illustrator of children's books. Freelance illustrator, beginning 1978; work has also appeared in calendars, jigsaw puzzles, greeting cards, and posters, and has been showcased on television programs, including CBS This Morning and Today. Writer, 1995—. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, guest lecturer, 1994, 2002. Creator of individual craft pieces, including "wearable art," exhibited and sold through Julie Artisans' Gallery, New York, NY, 1976-85. Claverack Democratic Committee, treasurer, 2003—.

MEMBER: Children's Literature Connection, Claverack Free Library (member, board of trustees, 1998—).

AWARDS, HONORS: Craftsman's fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, 1980; New York Times Book Review notable book of the year, best book of 1998 citation from Publishers Weekly, included in "Kids' Pick of the Lists," American Booksellers Association, and "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing" list, New York Public Library, and best book of the year citations, Child, Los Angeles Times, Parents', and Time magazines, all 1998, all for Look-Alikes; three annual awards, Society of Illustrators, most recently 1999, for excellence in illustration; Abby Award nomination, 1999; Dimensional Illustrators gold, silver, and bronze awards, for excellence in illustration; Educational Press Association Award for best of category; DESI Award for excellence in illustration; "Book Key" honor, CPNB (Holland), for Dutch translation of Look-Alikes.

WRITINGS:

Look-Alikes, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1998.

Look-Alikes Jr., Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1999.

Look-Alikes Christmas, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2003.

Art featured in books, including Art to Wear, by Julie Schafler Dale, Watson-Guptill (Lakewood, NJ), 1992; and 3-Dimensional Illustration, by Ellen Rixford, Watson-Guptill, 1992. Contributor to magazines, including Games, New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, Step-by-Step Graphics, and World.

Author's work has been translated into several languages, including Dutch.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A new "Look-Alikes" book with an international theme."

SIDELIGHTS: Joan Steiner is a self-taught illustrator who uses mixed media in her three-dimensional work, ranging from the traditional paint, paper, clay, and fabric, to wire, wood, socks, subway tokens, and dog biscuits. She created original crafts before turning to freelancing as an illustrator. An early commission from Games magazine included the suggestion that she add a puzzle element to her illustration, resulting in a general store made from everyday objects. Steiner produced work for Sesame Street and Nickelodeon magazines as well as a cover for the New York Times Magazine. Her career boomed in 1994 after photographer and friend Walter Wick suggested that she contact book agent Amy Berkower at Writers House. In an interview with Publishers Weekly contributor Heather Vogel Frederick, Berkower said she "flipped" when she saw Steiner's work. "It's rare to see something so unique and fresh."

Megan Tingley of Little, Brown spotted Steiner's work on Berkower's desk and borrowed it to show friends in Boston. Tingley came back with an offer the next day. Publishers were interested in promoting her book Look-Alikes to an adult market, but Steiner saw it as a book for children. She spent over three years creating the book about a land where she said "everything looks like something else." She scoured all types of stores looking for objects for her scenes. She bought several trench coats at thrift shops before finding the right one to use as a tent for the circus scene. Each visual puzzle took months to complete. Since she often uses edible materials, Steiner moved her project to a studio where her cats could not eat her work.

A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Steiner's Look-Alikes a "dazzling debut," marveling that "the amount of work that went into each tableau is staggering; the end result sheer delight." Over one hundred hidden objects can be found in each of Steiner's eleven photographed collages, puzzles that include a hotel lobby, general store, amusement park, and a circus. A list in the back of the book lists the hidden items, and asterisks denote items that are particularly difficult to find. Steiner fashioned the people in these scenes from modeling clay.

Other critics praised Look-Alikes. Pamela K. Bomboy wrote in the School Library Journal that the book "is sure to please" and is "guaranteed fun," while Booklist contributor Stephanie Zvirin praised Look-Alikes as "great fun and terrific for inspiring children" to create their own puzzles. Horn Book contributor Peter D. Sieruta faulted the book's "banal rhymed text" but delighted in its "amazing scenery" and dubbed Look-Alikes a "strikingly original puzzle book." In a Salon.com review, Polly Shulman wrote that although Look-Alikes can be considered a children's puzzle book, "it's really something more profound: a meditation on nostalgia and utopia, or a series of visual lyrics, or maybe a vivid dream."

Since the enthusiastic reception of her first book, Steiner has produced several other books incorporating the same "Look-Alikes" theme. A holiday theme runs through Look-Alikes Christmas, which contains nine three-dimensional collages that depict scenes from the Nutcracker Suite, a country kitchen, Santa's workshop, and a festive New Year's celebration, all constructed out of everything from kidney beans to mouse traps to human hair. As with her other books, Steiner includes a list of all the objects used in creating her Christmas-themed collages, and also adds a special feature: an interview in which she explains how her books are made. In addition to her illustrations, Steiner includes directions to help readers create Christmas "Look-Alikes" ornaments and recipes, creating what a Publishers Weekly contributor described as an "eye-popping" treat for "avid fans" who will want to scour each page in search of hard-to-find items. In School Library Journal, Maureen Wade described Look-Alikes Christmas as "clever, ingenious, and fun for both readers and nonreaders."

Steiner once told CA: "I had a very ordinary and fairly uneventful childhood. I always loved art, but as a young person I never dreamed of having a career in art. I thought the only art career was to be a brilliant painter whose work would be shown in museums. I was completely unaware of the other possibilities. Finally, after I had been out of college for several years knocking around from one job to another that I didn't find at all satisfying, it occurred to me that I should try to make a career out of the thing I loved best (duh!), even if I had to do something fairly lowly in that field. That's how I began, and I turned out to be a little more talented than I expected. I discovered that the thing one loves best is likely to be the thing one does best.

"There are lots of funny anecdotes about my work. Because I use a lot of food in my constructions, I am constantly having to guard against my cats eating the artwork and against mice and bugs demolishing work I have put aside for awhile. I also have odd shopping habits that attract the attention of store detectives."