Kristi Crow-Pruett spent her childhood summers sitting on the lawn observing the world around her with a desire to create her own. She drew her neighbors’ houses, while simultaneously designing her own houses and hotels. Crow-Pruett had big dreams of growing up to be an architect, but with a disinterest in math, she eventually shifted her focus to both storybook illustration and fashion design. As a child Crow-Pruett wrote several books and spent much of her time designing the wardrobe of her dreams (think space boots and 90’s catalog fashion.) While she originally wanted to create real world designs, both in architecture and fashion, her whimsical nature led her back to children’s literary illustration. Crow-Pruett is a published poet and has art published in “Brooklyn Art Library’s Portrait: Volume One”. During high school she won an award at the 2002 annual Arkansas Young Artist Association competition, and volunteered on Artrain, a museum-on-a-train program that brought exhibitions to communities which didn’t have access to art. In recent years, as a college student, Crow-Pruett had works selected for two consecutive Annual Student Competitive exhibitions, she was a recipient of the Brad Cushman Endowed Visual Arts Scholarship award, worked as a gallery assistant for three consecutive semesters, and worked as a painting studio assistant for one semester. She also volunteered at and donated work to Pulaski Heights Elementary: Picassos in 2020 and 2022, a biennial art auction fundraiser. In the summer of 2023, Crow-Pruett was the recipient of a work study scholarship to attend a collage workshop at Penland School of Craft. Crow-Pruett has a desire for constant learning. She has a digital marketing certificate from Pulaski Technical College, studied fashion design at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa, FL, and has a BFA in illustration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Crow-Pruett is turning the page of her story and currently focusing on creating her own world through literary illustration.