Mary Azarian
Mary Azarian (born 1940) is an American woodcut artist and children's book illustrator. She won the 1999 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. It tells about the life of Wilson Bentley.
Mary Azarian
- Born
- 1940 · Washington and D.C.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- writer · illustrator · wood carver
- Fields
- book illustration · wooden sculpture · linocut technique
- Education
- Smith College
- Honours
- Caldecott Medal
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Documentary summary
Mary Azarian (born 1940) is an American woodcut artist and children's book illustrator. She won the 1999 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. It tells about the life of Wilson Bentley.
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Note VALÉORINE
Mary Azarian (born 1940) is an American illustrator, wood carver and writer.
The illustrator studied at Smith College. Mary Azarian worked in Vermont. The illustrator is active in book illustration, linocut technique and wooden sculpture. Mary Azarian received Caldecott Medal.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q6778984 · wikipedia · Mary Azarian
In this article
Early life
Early life
She lives in Calais, Vermont. She produces original prints and has illustrated over 50 books.
Azarian grew up on her grandfather's farm on the outskirts of Washington, DC. Her grandfather’s farm had thousands of chicken along with geese that would bother the customers that came to buy his eggs. Azarian’s uncle grew vegetables. Being around her family gardens sparked her lifelong interest in nature. When she was young, she would spend her time exploring the woods and fields with her pony named Pasty. She began drawing and painting at an early age. In 4th grade, she did her first relief print of woodcuts. This piece of art was a 3 x lino block of an angel with the name NOEL at the bottom. She ran into a problem and learned a valuable lesson from this project; words must be reversed when doing a woodcut. Her finished product read LEON.
Education
Education
Azarian continued to lino cuts until she later attended Smith College, where she studied printmaking and painting with one of the great 20th century printmakers, Leonard Baskin.
Career
Career
After she graduated from Smith College, she moved to farm in Vermont. Azarian and her husband raised horses, oxen, chickens, a jersey milk cow, a sheep, and a goat with the help of their three sons. Before beginning her career as a full-time artist, Azarian taught in a one-room schoolhouse for three years. After she finished her three years of teaching, she decided she wanted to make a living selling woodcut prints. She began producing her prints by hand and in black and white. Eventually, she began adding color to her prints by hand. Finally, she found an old Vandercook proof press and began using it to produce the prints. In the 1970s, Azarian began illustrating children’s books. In 1999, the American Library Association awarded Azarian the Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in the children's book, Snowflake Bentley.
Family
Family
Mary Azarian has three sons with folk musician and artist Tom Azarian, also known by the name of Tom Banjo. Though she took his last name, the two never legally married, and separated in 1982. She also has four grandchildren.
Selected works
Selected works
• Snowflake Bentley, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin • A Farmer's Alphabet • A Gardener's Alphabet • Barn Cat • The Four Seasons of Mary Azarian • When the Moon is Full
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. It is also recorded that mary Azarian is recorded with the occupation writer.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q6778984: Mary Azarian
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Mary Azarian”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
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Cited by Wikipedia
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References
Citations
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Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q6778984: Mary AzarianWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
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Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Distinctions
1- Caldecott MedalTerminology
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Further particulars
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Further particulars
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This entry is compiled from 4 catalogued sources across 4 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, National Library of Medicine and Internet Archive. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
(Open Library, catalogue records for “Mary Azarian”) • Award: Mary Azarian is recorded as having received Caldecott Medal.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Illustration
5,224 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Mary Barbara BaileyIllustrator
- Mary BlairIllustrator
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- Mary Dora RogickIllustrator
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