Contact: StephanieOsser@gmail.com

Background:

As an illustrator, Stephanie works with traditional art media: pen & ink, watercolor/watercolor pencils & gouache, plus Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator & Procreate. She has specialized in non-fiction children’s books, cookbooks, and books about nature, and she does editorial illustration.

For the chance to work three-dimensionally, she also creates porcelain illustrations as bas-relief tiles, print on porcelain, and lithophanes (very low-relief illustrations created in translucent porcelain; when backlit, images pop forward magically, with a spectrum of tonalities).

Collaborations with art directors, designers, and other artists bring her joy, especially in the field of education.

Stephanie’s other passion is working with children. She teaches a workshop called Clay Tunes. She shares her illustrative clay knowledge while introducing the kids to great classical music and jazz to inspire their creativity. Workshops using recycled paper for collage are another of her specialties for families. She loves to sing, too. For that, she is in the Newton Swing Band, favoring songs by Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin, and is also a soprano in the Masterworks Chorale of Boston.

“My artistic creations are like the instruments in an orchestra. Each instrument has a different sound; you must use different skills to create those sounds. Thus, it has been with the different kinds of art I’ve made over the years: drawings, book and editorial illustration, multi-medias & ceramic depictions of my illustrations on porcelain lithophanes, clay tiles, sculptures of people important to me, sculptured opera scenes, dinnerware, and more.

But when the orchestra conductor says, “All Together Now!” and gives the downbeat for all the instruments to play as one, the listener can recognize the composer of the piece and the themes of the music. In a lifetime as an artist, my many kinds of artistic work come together as well, and the common and unified themes are clear: the loves of my life. Those are my family, children, music, and the beauty of nature.”

Publishers

Autumn Press ~ The Great American Tofu Cookbook by Patricia Gaddis McGruter
Atheneum Publishers ~ Dreams of a Perfect Earth by Lorus J. & Margery Milne                      
Doubleday Publishers ~ Working a Duck ~ by Melicia Phillips & Sean O. McElroy
Harper Collins ~ All About Eggs by Millicent Selsam~ outstanding Science book award
Houghton Mifflin ~ French Today 2, French Language textbook
Knopf Publishers ~ Cooking with Lydie Marshall
Lark Publishers: 4 books included my work: 500 Animals/Pitchers/Prints/Tiles         
Little Brown & Co.~This Old House by Bob Villa &  Drinking Straw Construction by B.Zubrowski Random House ~ Adventures in the Kitchen with Wolfgang Puck
Rodale Press ~ Perennials for Every Purpose by Larry Dodgson
Simon & Schuster ~ The Moosewood Kitchen Garden by David Hirsch
Simon & Schuster ~ The Complete Book of Soups & Stews by Bernard Clayton, Jr.
Simon & Schuster ~  The Complete Book of Small Breads by Bernard Clayton, Jr.
Warner Books ~ Faye Levy’s International Chicken Cookbook
Workman Publishers + Jim Henson Associates ~ the Muppets Big Book of Crafts

Newspapers & Magazines

Appalachian Mountain Club Magazine ~ illustrated New England Fauna
Boston Globe ~ food recipes
Ceramic Monthly Magazine ~ How to Make Lithophanes and Pottery Making Illustrated
Fine Cooking Magazine ~ illustrated Cooking Tips and Trussing a Chicken Step-by-step
Horticulture Magazine ~ instructional illustration of flora and planting guides
New York Times ~ Food illustration, still-life & step-by-step instruction
New York Daily News ~ Food illustration, still-life & step-by-step instruction
Uppercase Magazine, Canada ~ articles about me related to my passion for musical artwork

Permanent Collections in Museums ~ & Illustration Clients from Different Organizations

American Museum of Ceramic Art ~ 2023 ~ Gilbert & Sullivan and Candide ~ porcelain stage design
Blair Museum of Lithophanes ~ translucent backlit porcelain illustration ~ Turtle Landscape
Boston City Hall Mayor Michelle Wu’s Arts and Culture Gallery Exhibit 2023 of my ceramics
Graphic Artists Guild ~ Members Coloring Book of Illustrations
Head Start ~ 7 manuals on Mainstreaming Strategies for Preschool Children with Disabilities
International Museum of Dinnerware Design ~ illustrated Porcelain Dinnerware for Children & Teapot
Masterworks Chorale, Boston, MA ~ my illustration fundraiser image helped raise $27,000.00
Needham Historical Society ~ The Barber of Seville in My Hometown ~ porcelain stage design
New England Aquarium, Boston ~ Staff illustrator ~ Aquatic life exhibit identification ~ my first job
Red Starline Museum, Antwerp, Belgium ~ immigration tile, my Dad’s journey to the USA
The Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Museum ~ “My Family Odyssey: Voyage on the SS Finland”
University of Montana Wildlife and Anthropology ~ Native American Arrowheads & Stone Tools
Wildlife Conservation Society ~ Newsletter headers~ City Parks~ International Conservation

Teaching & Grants & Ceramic Residencies

Babson College Ceramics Studio Instructor/Manager & Wellesley and Olin College students
Mellon Presidential Project Grant from Wellesley College to design 2 Murals with students
Boston Floating Hospital for Children, Volunteer teaching children art at their bedsides
Brockton Public Library, Brockton, MA, teaching Recycled Collage Construction for families ~ Grant
New Art Center, Newton, MA ~Clay Tunes~ for young children, clay + Classical Music & Jazz
Randolph Public Library, Randolph, MA ~ Massachusetts Arts Council Grant ~ Collage
Ceramic Program Office for the Arts at Harvard University, Allston, MA
International Ceramic Research Center, Guldagergaard, Denmark  ~ 2 residency
International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary ~ 2 residencies
Medalta Ceramic Residency, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, Maine ~ kiln god award