Born in October 1926, illustrator
Virginia Marsh Roeder grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. She earned a bachelor's
of fine arts from the University of Houston and a master's from the Pratt
Institute in New York City, where she majored in illustration. After graduating
from Pratt, she stayed in New York.
Working in New York for many years,
Mrs. Roeder created fashion illustrations that appeared in a variety of popular
fashion magazines such as Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Glamour.
She moved back to Houston where she continued to do freelance work, including
jobs for the Houston Post and advertising children's clothing for local
department stores. She has also accepted commissions for portraits of children,
which continue to hang lovingly in homes from as close as Houston, Texas, to as
far away as Paris, France.
After moving to Houston, Mrs.
Roeder also began teaching art at St. John's School. While there she began a
program to take groups of students to Europe every summer in order to study art
and history. Now she is retired and has circled back to her first love,
children's illustrations.
Mrs. Roeder has illustrated nine
children's books. Her most recent additions are Phoebe Clappsaddle and the
Tumbleweed Gang, Phoebe Clappsaddle for Sheriff, and
Phoebe Clappsaddle has a Tumbleweed Christmas.
In addition to illustrating
children's picture books, she gives presentations to kids in grades K-4, and art
classes for grades 5-6. Her presentations include “What Makes a Picture Book,”
“Developing Picture Book Characters,” and for grades 5-6, “How to Tell a Picture
Book Story.”
Mrs. Roeder is married to Richard
C. Roeder, a designer. They have four daughters and three grandchildren, who
serve as models for her illustrations. She is a member of the Society of
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. |