Giselle Potter

**Giselle Potter**

Giselle Potter's creative journey began early. At the age of three, her parents founded “The Mystic Paper Beasts,” a puppet theater company. Alongside her sister, Giselle traveled and performed across the United States and Europe, experiences that later inspired her children's books “The Year I Didn’t Go To School” and “Chloe’s Birthday… and Me.”

Giselle graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1994, spending her final year in Rome with RISD’s European Honors Program. This period in Rome led to the creation of “Lucy’s Eyes and Margaret’s Dragon: Lives of the Virgin Saints,” a book of saint paintings and stories published by Chronicle Books.

After moving to Brooklyn, Giselle landed her first freelance illustration job with The New Yorker. This pivotal opportunity sparked a successful career, resulting in collaborations with numerous magazines and children’s book publishers.

Her debut children’s book, “Mr. Semolina-Semolinus: A Greek Folk Tale,” was published in 1997. Since then, Giselle has illustrated over thirty books, including works by notable authors such as Toni Morrison, Mary Pope Osborne, Ursula Hegi, Mathea Harvey, and Gertrude Stein.

Giselle works with various mediums, including gouache, ink, watercolor, and collage. She began with inks and watercolor, favoring the unexpected textures and muted colors of the materials she acquired in Italy. When some projects required brighter colors, such as a laundry soap campaign she was commission to do, she experimented with gouache. Now, she frequently switches between inks and gouache to keep her work dynamic and fresh. Although she has explored collage extensively, she typically incorporates it sparingly into her illustrations. 

Giselle currently resides in the Hudson Valley with her husband and two daughters, continuing to create and inspire through her art and stories.

Illustration Department interview

gisellepotter.com

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