Wisconsin artist-illustrator Nancy Ekholm Burkert celebrates her birthday on February 16th. Born in Sterling, Colorado, her family moved to Wisconsin when she was twelve, and her family spent summers in Minong.

While her work output has not been prolific, it has been of superior caliber, evidenced by a Caldecott Honor award for Susan Jeffer's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, (1977), and the Special Award for Excellence for the book Valentine and Orson, (Farrar, 1989), which also won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

Fans of her work will remember the illustrations for The Nightingale (1965) which were translated from paper into sets for a production at the Minneapolis Children's Theatre, the illustrations for a book of poetry by Emily Dickinson, The Acts of Light, and for Hans Christian Andersen's The Fir Tree. Ms. Burkert has said that she used her children and places she knew for her models.

Well-known for her attention to detail and the themes of love, peace, and respect for all living things, Ms. Burkert's work has had showings in Milwaukee and at other museums.

We wish Ms. Burkert a very happy birthday indeed! Thanks for sharing your talents with us all.