Rae Maté
When Vancouver Artist Rae Maté heard The Lord's Prayer recited in first grade, she believed that the phrase, "Our Father who 'art' in Heaven" referred to the Creator indulging His passion for drawing and painting. Since graduating from art school, Rae has exhibited widely, taught art to preschoolers and illustrated two children's picture books, verse by Robert Heidbreder: Crocodiles Say... 2005, and Crocodiles Play! 2008.
Rae is happy to announce that she has finally finished the illustrations for her third picture book, PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? She was on Hornby in the summer of 2008 when the email arrived from her publisher offering her the chance to illustrate this beautifully written lyrical story in verse by Canadian children's author Dan Bar-el, starring an adventurous world-traveling cat and the little girl who waits for his return. Rae began working on the drawings early in 2009 and began painting each of the 15 double spread paintings last summer on Hornby Island. The book will be published by Simply Read books in Fall 2010. The Pussy Cat (who has since been everywhere, from Paris to Egypt and San Francisco to the great Canadian North) just can't wait to take the ferryboat back to beautiful Hornby Island!
She and her husband Gabor have three grown children and live in Vancouver, but for the past 20 years, in the summer time and for shorter stays in all four seasons, Rae makes art in heaven on Hornby Island, B.C.