Carson and Tina Kugler

Tina and Carson Kügler both grew up in Milwaukee, influenced by Mary Nohl's garden of fantastical creatures. They blossomed into professional artists and created three rather loud creatures of their own. After years of dreaming about how to turn Mary's wonderland into a book, Tina and Carson combined traditional and digital collage elements to capture the spirit of Mary's art. The Küglers currently reside in Los Angeles where Carson is a storyboard supervisor for Nickelodeon Animation, and Tina is a full-time children's book illustrator.

Tina writes that her dot was "inspired by our book In Mary's Garden. We created it in the style of Mary Nohl, the Wisconsin artist who made amazing creatures out of the humblest of materials, and truly marched to the beat of own drum."

Here is our website for our art, together: http://studiokugler.com

Here's a sneak peek from the inside of the book. 

Mary Nohl's house

Tina Kugler

Tina Kugler lives in Los Angeles with her artist husband, three boys and an enormous hairy dog named Harryhausen.

Tina's illustration debut is the May 2014 picture book The Change Your Name Store, written by Leanne Shirtliffe, published by Sky Pony Press. Tina writes about her dot, "Here is a dot of Wilma Lee Wu from The Change Your Name Store...a picture book about self-acceptance, with an Asian-American main character. Wilma Lee Wu decides she doesn't like her name, so she visits the Change Your Name Store. With each new name she tries, she travels to its country of origin to try it out."                                                              

Her picture book written and illustrated with her husband Carson Kugler, In Mary's Garden, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. Their book connects the life and work of Wisconsin artist Mary Nohl with the ability to perceive the world in a creative way.
The release date is Spring 2015. (Source)

Learn more about Tina on her website.

Teacher's guide, printables, and projects for The Change Your Name Store available here.