Martha Alexander (1920–2006)

Martha Alexander was born in 1920 in Georgia. She attended the Cincinnati Academy of Art, and lived in many places, including New York, Alaska, and Washington state, before settling in Honolulu, Hawaii. Alexander was an artist since childhood, trying her hand at ceramics, doll making, fabric and clothing design, portrait painting, children's murals and paintings, decorative collages and mosaics, and teaching art to adults and children. She said after attending the Cincinnati Academy of Art, that she did not find her niche in the art world until, at the age of forty-five, she was given her first children's book to illustrate. She knew then that her long search for the right medium of expression had been more than justified. Alexander was an author and an illustrator of children's books that dealt mostly with what it's like to grow up. Martha Alexander wrote and illustrated the Blackboard Bear books and has written and illustrated a host of books for children. She died in 2006. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from Poems and Prayers for the Very Young… (més)