Petra Mathers

Life and work

Mathers was born in Todtmoos, Germany. She served as an apprentice in the book business before moving to the United States at the age of 23. Upon her arrival in the U.S., she worked with a friend who owned a children's bookstore in Oregon. After that, Mathers worked in bookstores, for Brockhaus (a German encyclopedia company), as a waitress jobs, and as a freelance artist and illustrator before creating her own picture books. Her first published book came at age 40 in 1985. She is the writer and illustrator of more than thirty picture books, and currently resides in Astoria, Oregon.

Style

Mathers is a self-taught artist and has a very distinct artistic style. Critic H. Nichols B. Clark describes her formal aesthetic, explaining that Mathers “[creates] simplified forms that comprise flat shapes. She assembles a carefully articulated formal arrangement whose visual dynamics are as integral to the production as the pictorial narrative.” Linnea Hendricks explains that Mathers’ picturebooks “combine a flat, naive, folklike style with wit and a strong sense of design” and are “praised for their freshness, originality, subtlety, and genuine feeling.”

Awards and honors

Petra Mathers’ work has earned much acclaim, including the following accolades: