Christiana, David 1960-

views updated

Christiana, David 1960-

Personal

Born April 18, 1960; married to Kristy Atwood. Education: Tyler School of Art, B.F.A.; Syracuse University, M.F.A.

Addresses

Home and office—13990 N. Sutherland Tr., Tucson, AZ 85739. Office—School of Art, Art Building, Rm. 207B, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0002. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

Career

Artist and educator. University of Arizona, Tucson, associate professor of art. Exhibitions: Work exhibited in shows at galleries, including at Society of Illustrators, New York, NY, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997; Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ, 1995; Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff, 1996; Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA, 1997; and (solo exhibition) Reality Room, Washington, DC, 1998.

Member

Society of Illustrators.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Drawer in a Drawer, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1990.

White Nineteens, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1992.

A Tooth Fairy's Tale, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1994.

The First Snow, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1996.

O Come, All Ye Faithful, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

ILLUSTRATOR

Alvin Schwartz, reteller, Fat Man in a Fur Coat, and Other Bear Stories, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1984.

Alvin Schwartz, reteller, Tales of Trickery from the Land of Spoof, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1985.

Rex Benedict, Run for Your Sweet Life, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1986.

Elizabeth Muskopf, The Revenge of Jeremiah Plum, Holt (New York, NY), 1987.

Alvin Schwartz, reteller, Gold and Silver, Silver and Gold: Tales of Hidden Treasure, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 1988.

Brian J. Heinz, The Alley Cat, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1993.

Jane Yolen, Good Griselle, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1994.

Joy Cowley, The Mouse Bride, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1995.

Eve Bunting, I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Jane Yolen, The Book of Fairy Holidays, Blue Sky Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Susan Pearson, Silver Morning, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1998.

Nancy Willard, The Tale I Told Sasha, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1999.

Patricia Lee Gauch, Poppy's Puppet, Holt (New York, NY), 1999.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti, The Christmas Promise, Holt (New York, NY), 2001.

Catherine Ann Cullen, The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2001.

Lauren Thompson, One Starry Night, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.

K.P. Bath, The Secret of Castle Cant: Being an Account of the Remarkable Adventures of Lucy Wickwright, Maidservant and Spy, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 2004.

Gail Carson Levine, Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, Disney Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Gail Carson Levine, Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand, Disney Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Print, Communication Arts, and Applied Arts.

Sidelights

David Christiana, a painter and professor of art, has illustrated more than twenty children's books, including Nancy Willard's The Tale I Told Sasha and Catherine Ann Cullen's The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat. Christiana's work has also appeared in such publications as Print and Applied Arts, and his paintings have been exhibited internationally.

In The First Snow, a self-illustrated tale, Christiana presents a fable about the changing of the seasons. When Mother Nature, as a young girl, prevents winter from appearing one year, the planet's vegetation grows lush and wildly out of control. Winter then enlists the help of Aunt Arctica to persuade Mother Nature that his chilly touch is needed. According to Susan Dove Lempke, writing in Booklist, the author/illustrator's "whimsical story is paired with swirling paintings," and Horn Book critic Lolly Robinson stated that "Christiana's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations resemble [nineteenth-century illustrator] Arthur Rackham's drawings in design and variety of line." A popular Christmas Carol is the inspiration for O Come, All Ye Faithful, another self-illustrated work. Here Christiana's gouache paintings "provide a flesh yet fittingly respectful look at the Nativity," a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote.

Christiana has also enjoyed successful collaborations with several highly regarded children's authors. He teams with Eve Bunting for I Am the Mummy Heb-

Nefert, in which a female mummy wistfully recounts her life in ancient Egypt. Christiana's watercolors "superbly capture the contrast between the breathtaking beauty of the young woman … and the frighteningly wizened mummy," noted Lempke of this work. In The Tale I Told Sasha, Willard offers an imaginative story of a young girl who discovers a dreamlike world. Critics praised the combination of Willard's text and Christiana's illustrations. In Booklist, GraceAnne A. DeCandido observed that the book's "pages draw the attention again and again, as connections between the poem and the pictures insinuate themselves and the perspectives shimmer and re-form," and a Publishers Weekly contributor noted that the illustrator's "fey, dreamy watercolors of a surreal landscape match the poem's fantastical mood while preserving its ambiguities."

Another tale of magic, Poppy's Puppet by Patricia Lee Gauch, concerns a toymaker's gift for creating beautiful and lively marionettes from simple pieces of wood. "Christiana's watercolor paintings clothe the story in an appealing combination of gossamer and homespun," Carolyn Phelan remarked in Booklist, and a Publishers Weekly reviewer stated that Gauch's narrative "gains a measure of mystery and magic from the ethereal illustrations." Set during the Great Depression, Susan Campbell Bartoletti's The Christmas Promise focuses on a homeless young girl and her father. "Christiana's art is quite astounding here, filling oversized pages with haunting images," wrote a critic in Kirkus Reviews. In The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat a youngster helps a variety of fanciful creatures by offering them the magical buttons from her overcoat. According to Linda Ludke in School Library Journal, "Christiana's watercolor illustrations are stylized and slightly haunting with dark, shadowy backgrounds, unconventional perspectives, and gaunt figures with angular features."

Christiana has also illustrated a pair of works by Gail Carson Levine that are set in Peter Pan's Neverland. Reviewing Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg in School Library Journal, Elizabeth Bird remarked that "Christiana's lush, full-color illustrations are breathtaking." The illustrator's work in Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand garnered praise from School Library Journal critic Pat Leach, who stated that his "watercolors convey a nostalgic tone; their soft colors reflect the feel of fantasy."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 1997, Susan Dove Lempke, review of The First Snow, p. 945; May 15, 1997, Susan Dove Lempke, review of I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert, p. 1576; March 15, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of Silver Morning, p. 1250; June 1, 1999, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of The Tale I Told Sasha, p. 1826;

September 15, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of Poppy's Puppet, p. 267; September 15, 2001, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of The Christmas Promise, p. 234; December 15, 2001, Lauren Peterson, review of The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat, p. 738; August, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, p. 2023; January 1, 2008, Jennifer Mattson, review of Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand, p. 76.

Horn Book, March-April, 1997, Lolly Robinson, review of The First Snow, p. 191.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001, review of The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat, p. 1120; October 15, 2001, review of The Christmas Promise, p. 1480; November 1, 2003, review of O Come, All Ye Faithful, p. 1315; August 1, 2005, review of Fairy Dust and the Quest For the Egg, p. 853; July 1, 2007, review of Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand.

Publishers Weekly, April 16, 1999, review of The Tale I Told Sasha, p. 82; July 19, 1999, review of Poppy's Puppet, p. 194; September 3, 2001, review of The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat, p. 87; September 24, 2001, review of The Christmas Promise, p. 53; September 22, 2003, review of O Come, All Ye Faithful, p. 68; August 29, 2005, review of Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, p. 56.

School Library Journal, October, 2001, review of The Christmas Promise, p. 62; December, 2001, Linda Ludke, review of The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat, p. 97; October, 2003, Eva Mitnick, review of O Come, All Ye Faithful, p. 69; October, 2005, Elizabeth Bird, review of Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, p. 119; November, 2007, Pat Leach, review of Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand, p. 94.