Michele Landsaat

Michele Landsaat is a writer and illustrator whose entire body of work originates from an exploration into the symbolic world of the unconscious. Every component of her books is significant, such that the process, materials and design are metaphors for the actual content. The alchemical and slow process of creating illustrations using the technique of etching mirrors her approach to storytelling. There is something unpredictable and transformative that happens during the process of creating both a written story and an etching. Invariably, each invigorates the other in unexpected ways and her story deepens when she invites the images to inform the writing and writing to inform the images.

Michele received 2016 GAP funding to produce a portfolio of etchings to submit to publishing houses and art directors. The etchings will accompany her picture book entitled, What Was Lost & What Was Found. She hopes the work created will expose children and adults alike to the richness and subtlety of a medium that is not widely used in picture books.