Ruth Sanderson

Background

Ruth Sanderson was born on November 24, 1951, in Ware, Massachusetts, United States. She is the daughter of C. Kenneth and Victoria (Sasur) Sanderson.

Education

Sanderson graduated from the Paier College of Art in Connecticut in 1974.

Career

Ruth began drawing during childhood and shared the enthusiasm for her hobby with her friends. After graduating from the Paier College of Art, she started doing textbook illustration and then slowly worked her way up to trade books and then jacket illustration. During the years she has been an illustrator, Sanderson has worked in every medium: watercolor, oils, acrylic, air brush, colored pencil, and alkyd.

Beginning with book covers, Sanderson soon graduated to her first picture book illustration project: Ilka List's Grandma's Beach Surprise, published in 1975. Since then, she has amassed countless illustration credits. Most notable of her books have been those in the fairy tale genre, as the medieval overtones of the stories complement Sanderson’s own style.

Sanderson’s “big break” was the assignment to illustrate an edition of Heidi with one hundred full-color paintings, created in oils. She went on to illustrate The Secret Garden, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which was published in 1990 after a year and a half of work. Other fantasy books followed, including The Enchanted Wood; The Crystal Mountain; Cinderella; The Golden Mare, The Firebird, and the Magic Ring; and Goldilocks.

During her career Ruth has illustrated over 80 books for children, and her fairy tales have received much acclaim. She has exhibited in museums, galleries, and numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions. All of the original artwork from her book The Twelve Dancing Princesses is now in the permanent collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Her first art book, Golden Dreams, The Art of Ruth Sanderson was published in late 2013.

Sanderson is Co-Director of the low-residency MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating and Certificate in Children's Book Illustration programs at Hollins University. In addition to illustrating and writing, Sanderson devotes much of her time to speaking at school assemblies.

Achievements

• Ruth Sanderson is an award-winning illustrator of children's books. She was the Artist Guest of Honor at the 2011 World Fantasy Convention, and received the Inkpot Award at the 2013 San Diego Comicon.

Works

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  • Saints: Lives & Illuminations

    (From well-known saints like Patrick and Francis of Assisi...)

    2010
  • The Nativity

    (For centuries, the Gospels have brought to audiences of a...)

    2010
  • Tapestries: Stories of Women in the Bible

    (An anthology of twenty-two stories highlights the bravery...)

    1998
  • Cinderella

    (Sweet Cinderella is forced to spend her days waiting on h...)

    2013
  • A Castle Full of Cats

    (The queen’s cats have taken over the palace, and the king...)

    2015
  • Don't Hurt Laurie

    (After her mother, prone to fits of anger, remarries, Laur...)

    1977
  • Papa Gatto: An Italian Fairy Tale

    (Papa Gatto, trusted adviser to the prince, learns that ju...)

    2015
  • Rose Red and Snow White

    (A beautiful retelling of the classic Brothers Grimm tale ...)

    2013
  • Nancy Drew 58

    (When Nancy and her friends ride deep into the Sawniegunk ...)

    2005
  • Nancy Drew 60

    (When she is told that a large inheritance from a Greek ty...)

    2005
  • The Secret in the Old Lace

    (Nancy Drew has entered a contest to solve an old mystery-...)

    2005
  • The Snow Princess

    (When the Snow Princess sets off to see the world, Father ...)

    2014
  • The Mystery of Pony Hollow

    (A young girl living on an Iowa farm finds a mysterious po...)

    1978
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses

    (The classic tale from the Brothers Grimm of the twelve da...)

    2013
  • The Crystal Mountain

    (The youngest of three sons embarks on a daring quest to o...)

    2016
  • Buck, Wild

    (Traces the first four years in the life of a wild mustang...)

    1976
  • The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic Ring

    (Brave deeds and wondrous magic come together in this tale...)

    2016
  • Where Have The Unicorns Gone

    (Long ago, unicorns lived in a haven of sun-dappled glades...)

    2010
  • The Enchanted Wood

    (Winner of the Young Hoosier Award and the Bank Street Col...)

    2016
  • Hush, Little Horsie

    (Hush, little horsie, Asleep on the moor. Your mama is clo...)

    2010
  • Horse Diaries

    (Independence, Missouri, 1846. Koda is a bay quarter horse...)

    2009
  • Fantastic Cats: Coloring Book for Adults 2017
  • Mother Goose and Friends 2008
  • Santa's Christmas 2017
  • Goldilocks 2017
  • The World of Fairies 2016
  • The Triple Hoax 2005
  • Cinderella 2017

Membership

Sanderson is a member of the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Western Massachusetts Illustrator's Guild.

Interests

• Horseriding

Connections

Ruth is married to Kenneth Robinson.

Father:

C. Kenneth Sanderson

Mother:

Victoria (Sasur) Sanderson

Spouse:

Kenneth Robinson

Daughter:

Whitney Sanderson

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2008