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Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET SUZY ENGELMAN BLOCK
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| Suzy Engelman Block |
I loved animals. I had a need to surround myself with my own loving menagerie. I would leave out bowls of milk on the back porch hoping a lost friend might meander by. Then, I would spend endless hours collecting bugs in the backyard. When I began getting a sizable fifty cent allowance, I would save up and take the bus downtown to buy various little critters at Woolworth’s Five & Dime. My room became filled with furry and slimy friends.
What did you read as a child?
I was a pretty sophisticated reader. Mad Magazine, Archie, Betty and Veronica, Reggie , Jughead, Lulu, Casper, Heart Throbs, Young Romance, Young Love, Dear Abby…Need I say more?
When you went to college, were you already pursuing a career in writing or art?
Absolutely not! Growing up, most of my writing and drawing was done under the cloak of invisibility. I never would have been presumptuous enough to pursue a career as an artist of any kind. Instead, I sought to save the world! Well, it was the late 60’s. I majored in Sociology and longed to join the Peace Corps and save Biafran babies from starvation. Then I met this guy who was an English major. He helped me with my term papers and I graduated with a B.A. in English. So I married him.
What kind of jobs have you had?
Actually, the summer jobs I had while I was in college were kinda quirky and memorable. I think they were the clues that I must have a higher calling (because they were nightmares,) but eventually drove me to explore my love of storytelling with both words and pictures. For instance, my stint as an ice cream man ended when I was robbed by an angry mob and my truck axle broke leaving me stranded on a country road in Pennsylvania. All my little ventures became great stories to be told again and again…I just have to figure out how to adapt them for children!
So when did you decide to explore a career as an illustrator and writer?
It was brewing inside me for years. I was sent to art classes throughout my childhood, but that was just to keep me out of the house. I secretly fell in love with the smell of art materials. I studied oil painting in New Hampshire while my husband got his masters. That’s when I knew it. But I was an artist without a canvas. I started college over again, this time studying art. It was not until I had kids, that I saw my canvas appear on the pages of the children’s books I read to them over and over again, with tissues in hand. The storyteller was oozing out of me.
What medium do you use for your art?
Mainly, I use acrylics. They are very forgiving and I love to experiment. Lately, I have added pastel, colored pencils and markers to my mix. I am intrigued by collage, so papers and magazines surround me. My trusty scissors are never far. I have no idea where they will take me.
What subjects do you like to illustrate or write about?
I’m passionate about depicting life, both the two and four-legged type, and it all keeps popping up in my artwork. Maybe since every critter on the planet will not fit into my house, I cleverly bring them home by inserting them into the pages of my children’s book illustrations. I mostly enjoy being master of my universe by both writing and illustrating my own stories that emanate from ideas that are near and dear to my heart. My childhood is always fresh in my mind, so I am never far from the joy and pain of growing up. My stories come from there.