About me

I believe every choice you make can teach you something important about yourself. When I was twenty I moved to Italy, knowing that if I stayed in New York I would never make the creative leap I was craving. For three years I traveled, worked, and wandered — noticing details, trying to distill what I was seeing down to its essence. Years later I find myself doing exactly the same thing in my daily sketchbooks: capturing fragments of the world around me that feel funny, hopeful, or quietly poignant. All of it beautiful in its own way.

I live in Columbus, Ohio, where I teach illustration at Columbus College of Art and Design. My daughter is presently in graduate school in California, so it's just me and my very opinionated cat Juno, keeping the studio lively. Alongside teaching, I create children's books, editorial illustrations, and pattern collections for companies I genuinely love working with.

Thanks for stopping by. Please reach out if you'd like to collaborate — or simply want to say hello (see form).
If you’d like to see my fine art/gallery work, check out this link. www.mariacarlucciogallery.com.