Ponder Goembel

"Goembel's exquisite watercolor and color pencil... double-page spreads gloriously visualize the terrain, climate, costume, and inhabitants indigenous to the lands of the riddles' origins while simultaneously suggesting the appropriate response to the riddles."
-Booklist review

Ponder Goembel is a painter and an illustrator of children's books. Since 1976, Goembel has worked as a freelance illustrator for advertising agencies, recording companies and publishers. While she uses many mediums, Goembel primarily focuses on two particular techniques. Goembel's first technique requires using sepia ink with many layers of acrylic wash, eventually building up to an opaque area. Her second technique involves using a colored pencil over watercolor on charcoal paper or pre-colored charcoal paper. Goembel's style ranges from realistic to imaginative, to almost surrealistic. Most of the work that she completes is commissioned as illustrations and typically accompanies text. More recently, these works are in the form of children's books.

Education and Training
B.F.A., Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1977

Teachers and Influences
Teachers that have influenced Goembel: Benjamin Eisenstat, Albert Gold, Robert Stien, Stephen Tarantal and Robert Byrd
Artists that have influenced Goembel: Henri Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh, Gauguin, M.C. Escher, Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, and Ben Shahn
Illustrators that have influenced Goembel: Maurice Sendak, David Palladini, Ed Young, Jerry Pinkney, Chris Van Allsburg, Jan Brett, David Wiedner, Patricia Polacco, and Charles Santore

Connection to Bucks County
Ponder Goembel has been a Bucks County resident since 1989.

Major Group Exhibitions
Graphis Annual, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985
Rosenfeld Gallery, 1983
International Editorial Design Competition II, 1982
Art Directors Club of Philadelphia, 1981
Art Directors Club of Philadelphia, 1980
Society of Illustrators' Annual Student Scholarship Competition and Show, 1977
Eli Competition, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1977

Children's Literature
A Basket Full of White Eggs
Hi, Pizza Man!, 1995

Affiliations and Memberships
Graphic Artist's Guild

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Freelance Illustrator for advertising agencies, publishers, and recording companies, 1976-present
Lecturer, Philadelphia College of Art, Illustration Forum and Business Practices Series, 1981
Teacher, Philadelphia College of Art, Illustration Elective, 1984-1985
Teacher, Baum School of Art, Illustration for adults, 1995-1996

Major Awards
Second Prize, Documentary Illustration, 1977
Second Prize, Eli Competition, Philadelphia College of Art, 1977
Award of Excellence, Art Director's Club of Philadelphia, 1980
Award of Excellence, Art Director's Club of Philadelphia, 1981
Award of Excellence, International Editorial Design Competition II, 1982