Susanne Renner-Desinger

Born in Göttingen/Germany in 1964. From 1980 to 1982 she attended the College for Design in Münster. From there she went on to the University of Applied Sciences for Design, also in Münster. She completed her studies with Prof. Rolf Escher receiving a diploma in graphic design in 1987. In 1987 and 1988 she worked for a graphic design firm. Subsequently she started building a career as a freelance illustrator with projects for various German publishers, i.e. the Arena-Verlag. In 1993 she moved to Toronto, Canada. Here she developed corporate designs for several companies and associations. Occasionally working for German clients she created a lead character for the children's museum at the Westphalian Museum of Industry. She also gave art workshops (drawing, design, woodwork, handicrafts) for children at various Canadian schools (e.g. Royal St. George's College and Hillcrest Community School). From 1996 to 1997 she studied woodcarving at the Central Technical School in Toronto. In 2000 she moved to Munich where she participated in a one year training class in computer-graphics and -design at Media-Workhouse. In 2001 she relocated to Freising where she continued to work as freelancer, mainly as an illustrator for children's books and CD-Roms (Publishers Heinrich Vogel/Bertelsmann) but also on other book projects (e.g. Westermann). For some 15 years she has also been drawing pets and favorite animals -from dogs to lobsters- for private customers. Being an expert in depicting plants and animals, her true heart beats for the smallest creatures: with the eye of a scientist and the hand of an artist she created larger than life versions of numerous European and North American beetles, bees, butterflies and spiders. Presentations of her work included exhibitions at the "Center for Wood and Forest" (a joint venture of Munich's and Freising's universities) in 2003 and at the Zoological Collection of State in Munich in 2004. In 2005 she moved to Los Angeles, California. She is married with two children.