Deborah Nourse Lattimore

Brentwood Art Center welcomes Deborah Nourse Lattimore to our Faculty this Fall! She brings with her a deep and varied background as a creator, mentor, world traveler, and lifelong learner. Deborah will be teaching classes in writing and illustrating storybooks for children.

“Deborah Nourse Lattimore has traveled all over the world as a scholar, an artist, and a writer. She loves creating picture books that take young readers on amazing journeys back through time to ancient cultures.” (Harper Collins Canada).

“As a little girl, Lattimore made almost weekly trips to the Los Angeles County Museum with her grandmother. “I got to know those paintings really well. . .by name.” Together Lattimore and her grandmother sketched their versions of the masters, losing themselves in the culture and history of the paintings.

“… Each of Lattimore’s books is an education in art history. When she sets out to create a book, she relishes the research—focusing on the fun of discovery, rather than the hard work. When readers open Lattimore’s current illustration project, Tasha’s Matrioska Dollsby Jana Dillon, they will be transported to Russia. As Dillon’s story unfolds, Lattimore’s art will take them on a tour of the art of old Russia: interiors from 150 years ago, folk art, clothing, and clay figurines.” (patriciamnewman dot com).

In addition to Lattimore’s many accomplishments as an artist and writer, she has spoken on behalf of the International Reading Association, as well as the Departments of State and Education as well as NATO. She was an artist for Sesame Street and other PBS programs, an archaeological illustrator for the J. Paul Getty Museum, and The American School in Athens. She has also been part of archeological excavations in Egypt, and received a Carnegie Grant to conduct research in Central America where she spent time in El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico.

Lattimore has been nominated twice for the Caldecott Award, won a PEN award, the FOCAL, and the Golden Dolphin Award. She was chosen as the first Mentor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators of Los Angeles.

94 of her students have gone on to become published authors.