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Born and raised in Seattle, Carolyn has been based in London for many years.

She has worked internationally as an acclaimed illustrator and fine artist. Her work has appeared in major publications, magazines, newspapers, posters, on book covers, in childrens’ books, annual reports, advertising campaigns, as well as on gallery and museum walls.

Commissioners include: Vogue, The New Yorker, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Guardian, The Spectator, The Independent, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, BBC Worldwide, Radio Times, GQ, London Underground, The Evening Standard, The Boston Globe, Royal Mail, Harper Collins, Bloomsbury, Penguin, Faber, Gallimard, Mosaik Verlag, Middlehauve Verlag

She has won numerous awards and distinctions as a painter, printmaker, and illustrator, and has exhibited regularly in the UK, and worldwide, in various juried and invitational art exhibitions including The Royal Academy of Art, ING Discerning Eye, NOA, The London Group, Lynn Painter Stainers, RCA Secret etc.

Her illustrations have received accolades from The Design & Art Directors Association (UK), The Swiss Art Directors Club, Communication Arts (USA), Print Magazine (USA), The Society of Illustrators, NYC, American Illustration, European Illustration, The Association of Illustrators (UK). In 1994 she was invited to become an honorary patron of the Association of Illustrators (UK).

Gowdy is renowned for her narrative images with text inscriptions. Her paintings and drawings are populated by a cast of idiosyncratic characters, and her work which is at once playful, reflective, and philosophical, has been very influential.

“Carolyn Gowdy’s work has changed the look of British book, magazine and poster illustration over the past 20 years.” – National Open Art