Johnson, Stephen T. 1964-

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Johnson, Stephen T. 1964-

Personal

Born 1964, in Madison, WI. Education: University of Kansas, B.F.A. (painting), 1987; attended Université de Bordeaux and Conservatoire des Beaux-Arts (Bordeaux, France), 1984-85.

Addresses

Home—New York, NY.

Career

Illustrator and educator. Freelance illustrator, with clients including record companies, State Ballet of Missouri, Association of Kansas Theatre, and Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism. Teacher at Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, KS, 1987; Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, 1996, 1999; Syracuse University, 1998-99; Pratt Institute, New York, NY, 2000; and Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, 2000. Exhibitions: Works exhibited in solo exhibit at Center for the Arts Gallery, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, MN, 1991; Katonah Museum of Art, and Chicago Art Institute; and in group exhibitions, including Society of Illustrators Museum and Norman Rockwell Museum. Work included in permanent public collections, including at National Portrait Gallery and Mulvane Art Museum, and in private collections.

Awards, Honors

Best of Show Award, Lawrence Art Center, 1987; Philip Isenberg Memorial Award, Pastel Society of America, 1992; David Humphrey Memorial Award, Allied Artists of America, 1992; Alice Melrose Memorial Award, Audubon Artists, 1993; Knickerbocker Artists Award, Salmagundi Club, 1993; H.K. Holbein Award, Pastel Society of America, 1993; Yarka Art Materials Award, Audubon Artists, 1994; Washington Square Outdoor Award, Salmagundi Club, 1995; Caldecott Honor Book, 1995, for Alphabet City; Society of Illustrators Gold Medal, 1996; Board of Directors Award, Pastel Society of America, and Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators, both 1998; Board of Directors Award, Pastel Society of America, and Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators, both 1999.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Alphabet City, Viking (New York, NY), 1995.

City by Numbers, Viking (New York, NY), 1998.

My Little Red Toolbox, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2000.

My Little Blue Robot, Silver Whistle (San Diego, CA), 2002.

As the City Sleeps, Viking (New York, NY), 2002.

My Little Yellow Taxi, Red Wagon Books (Orlando, FL), 2006.

A Is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2008.

ILLUSTRATOR

Robert D. San Souci, reteller, The Samurai's Daughter: A Japanese Legend, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Melissa Hayden, The Nutcracker Ballet, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 1992.

Robert D. San Souci, The Snow Wife, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1993.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, adapted by Donna Martin, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 1993.

Sheila MacGill-Callahan, When Solomon Was King, Dial Books (New York, NY), 1995.

Steven Schnur, The Tie Man's Miracle: A Chanukah Tale, Morrow (New York, NY), 1995.

Steve Sanfield, The Girl Who Wanted a Song, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1996.

Robert Burleigh, Hoops, Silver Whistle (San Diego, CA), 1997.

Lenore Look, Love as Strong as Ginger, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1999.

Dori Chaconas, On a Wintry Morning, Viking (New York, NY), 2000.

Robert Burleigh, Goal, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2001.

Jane Yolen, The Hurrying Child, Silver Whistle (San Diego, CA), 2001.

Diane Siebert, Tour America: A Journey through Poems and Art, SeaStar Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including Forbes and Time.

Sidelights

Stephen T. Johnson had already illustrated several books before he won the prestigious Caldecott Honor Book citation with his first solo effort, Alphabet City. Praised as both an artistic inspiration for older children and an effective concept book for youngsters, the wordless Alphabet City "invites young and old alike to take a new look at familiar surroundings, discovering the alphabet without ever looking in a book or reading from a sign," according to Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan in School Library Journal. In his art Johnson employs a medley of media, including gouache, watercolor, pastels, and charcoal, creating images so realistic that critics have likened them to photographs. Alphabet City "is hardly an alphabet book for preschoolers," stated Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper. Although noting that some of Johnson's

depictions of letters might puzzle even experienced adult eyes, Cooper added that the book's "artwork is quite amazing."

Johnson takes a similar approach in City by Numbers, in New York City sights such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park are depicted in the form of a numeral ranging from one to twenty-one. "The stunningly realistic paintings in this wonderful book invite readers of all ages to view their world in a new and playful way," asserted David J. Whitin in Teaching Children Mathematics. Whether as inspiration for younger children exploring math concepts, or for older children becoming interested in the art of form, readers cannot fail to be affected by Johnson's "deep sense of the rhythm and harmony of city life," wrote GraceAnne A. DeCandido in a Booklist review of City by Numbers.

Johnson offers a spookier vision of New York City in As the City Sleeps, an "eerie ramble" through nocturnal and phantasmagoric city streets that a contributor to Publishers Weekly found "mesmerizing." In Booklist Diane Foote commented on the moodiness of the work, noting that Johnson's "brooding, atmospheric" illustrations intertwine "the real and the fantastic in a way that leaves each picture's subject vague."

In the sturdy cardboard pages of Johnson's self-illustrated My Little Red Toolbox, My Little Blue Robot, and My Little Yellow Taxi are small moveable elements that can be fitted with other pieces of the book. For example, My Little Red Toolbox features a paper wrench and bolts to tighten, as well as a saw and an erasable drawing board. In My Little Blue Robot little hands can create a robot out of the pieces that can be removed from the book, while in My Little Yellow Taxi readers can pop the hood on a city cab to reveal an engine, check tire pressure, or scout around the cab's interior. Calling My Little Yellow Taxi "a wonderful interactive book," Lori West concluded in her Curled up with a Good Kid's Book online review that Johnson's pop-up book "provides children with the opportunity to perform the many hands-on activities associated with ensuring that a taxi is in top form before it hits the streets."

Johnson's artwork has also contributed to the success of picture books by other authors. His diminutive, intimate pastel-and-watercolor illustrations grace Lenore Look's book Love as Strong as Ginger, a nostalgic biography of Look's grandmother, whose backbreaking work in a cannery helped establish the family of recent Chinese immigrants. "Sometimes sketchy, the illustrations imply a mood rather than tell a story, and in this way intensify the emotional content of the text," explained a contributor to Publishers Weekly. Likewise, in Robert Burleigh's Hoops, Johnson's illustrations are considered a valuable contribution to the author's poetic tribute to the feel of playing the game. Indeed, "the drawings create a loose storyline for the staccato text," remarked a contributor to Publishers Weekly. For Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan, "the drawings create context and characters as they express the players' moves and emotions."

Employing charcoal, gouache, and watercolor to create effects either realistic or impressionistic, and focusing in on subjects of various racial composition in rural settings or city streets, Johnson creates illustrations that have been cited for enriching and deepening the stories they accompany. His contributions to Diane Siebert's award-winning picture book Tour America: A Journey through Poems and Art evidence an "engaging diversity of approaches and styles," according to a Kirkus Reviews writer, and "mesh … well with the variety of forms Siebert employs" in her text. Dubbing the work a "stunning tour of America" in his School Library Journal review, Lee Bock added that the artist "masterfully varies his medium and art style to reflect the mood of each locale." In Booklist, Gillian Engberg viewed Tour America as more than a children's picture book, writing that "Johnson's impressively varied, sophisticated images of towns and landscapes" in Tour America "may expand the book's audience to older art students."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of Alphabet City, p. 824; November 15, 1997, Carolyn Phelan, review of Hoops, p. 558; February 15, 1999, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of City by Numbers, p. 1065; October 15, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Love as Strong as Ginger, p. 443; April 15, 2001, Kelly Milner Halls, review of Goal, p. 1562; September 1, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of Goal, p. 101; December 1, 2002, Diane Foote, review of As the City Sleeps, p. 666; June 1, 2006, Gillian Engberg, review of Tour America: A Journey through Poems and Art, p. 65.

Early Childhood Education Journal, summer, 2001, Pauline Devay Zeece, review of My Little Red Toolbox, p. 238.

Horn Book, November, 1998, Lolly Robinson, review of City by Numbers, p. 708; May, 1999, review of Love as Strong as Ginger, p. 318; January, 2003, review of As the City Sleeps, p. 57.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1998, review of City by Numbers, p. 1385; October 1, 2002, review of As the City Sleeps, p. 1492; May 15, 2006, review of Tour America, p. 524.

Plays, October, 2001, review of Goal, p. 70.

Publishers Weekly, November 11, 1996, review of The Girl Who Wanted a Song, p. 74; October 6, 1997, review of Hoops, p. 83; May 24, 1999, review of Love as Strong as Ginger, p. 79; August 7, 2000, review of My Little Red Toolbox, p. 97; October 23, 2000, review of On a Wintry Morning, p. 74; August 12, 2002, review of My Little Blue Robot, p. 302; October 21, 2002, review of As the City Sleeps, p. 73; July 28, 2003, review of City by Numbers, p. 98.

School Library Journal, January, 1996, Nancy Menaldi-Scanlon, review of Alphabet City, pp. 85-86; July, 1997, John Philbrook, review of The Girl Who Wanted a Song, p. 74; November, 1997, Connie C. Rockman, review of Hoops, p. 105; February, 1999, Pam Gosner, review of City by Numbers, p. 99; July, 1999, Margaret A. Chang, review of Love as Strong as Ginger, p. 76; November, 2000, Jane Marino, review of On a Wintry Morning, p. 112; June, 2006, Lee Bock, review of Tour America, p. 186.

Teaching Children Mathematics, March, 2000, David J. Whitin, review of City by Numbers, p. 470.