Intertwined Illustrations by Three Slovenian Master Artists

Slovenian book illustration is a cohesive, continuous endeavour with a deep-rooted tradition. Today, it is one of the most popular visual art forms in the country, yet it remains somewhat relegated to the periphery of so-called “high art.” Its role is to clarify, explain, and unravel stories, poems, or written information, providing a visual representation of narratives found in fiction and non-fiction. A diverse field that plays a major educational role, it has created fertile conditions over the course of eight decades for the continuation of artistic mastery of this craft in Slovenia. We can trace its developmental phases from works rooted in the socialist educational concept – as illustration gradually untangled itself from the initially dominant themes of the National Liberation Struggle – through the first post-war generations of realists, to the emergence of the “fairy-tale tellers” who first brought Slovenian excellence to the international stage. This evolution continued through the increasingly liberated perspectives of the late 20^th century, leading to the vast array of possibilities offered by the digital age and electronic media for the generation of illustrators marching though the 21^st century.

The illustrator Ana Maraž has developed a signature style that reaches geographically far north into the minimalist design haven of Scandinavia, while being deeply imbued with her own internal and external intimate worlds. At first glance, her illustrations stand out for their simple approach and flat style, enriched by an abstracted interpretation that bears only a faint resemblance to reality. In the anthology of folk tales for adolescents and adults entitled Kako dolg je čas [How Long is Time] by the writer Mate Dolenc, the stories do not require explicit imagery, which allowed Maraž to indulge in a higher degree of abstraction and minimalism. The visual language of the book is based on formal simplification, tonal purity, and stylized forms, making the choice of black-and-white illustrations a logical conclusion. Conversely, in her depictions of Miroslav Košuta’s verses in Božaj veter [Caress the Wind], every movement, step, touch, and youthful smile is exactly as the poem dictates, despite the unpredictable nature of the coloured ink technique. Furthermore, by independently designing various states and emotions that are not strictly bound to specific words, the illustrations break the barrier between the poet and the reader, creating a profound sense of authenticity. Her flat figures, personified objects, and concepts appear in a clear collage-like manner, blending seamlessly in her illustrations for Majda Koren’s picture books Protideževna juha [No More Rain Soup] and Njam, njam, marmelada [Yum, Yum, Jam]. While she works in mixed and digital media, she is best known for these collages. Her colour illustrations are filled with warm tones, playful details, and expressive, endearing characters that quickly capture children’s attention and captivate their imagination. The common thread running throughout her body of work is simplification and reduction: she constantly strives to be at the boundary between the real and the abstract, a point where meaning in her books remains recognizable to both her youngest viewers in children’s magazines and readers of all ages.

A hallmark of Tina Volarič’s work is her devotion to multiple branches of art, which she infuses with her unique poetics. The picture book Rime na veter [Wind Rhymes], featuring whimsical poems by Milan Šelj and Volarič’s imaginative illustrations, carries the scent of the wind and nature of the Karst, the region where both creators live. Bold colours, stylised trees, houses, and objects, delicate surfaces, and original depictions of people and animals visually complement the content of the poems. Her first original picture book, Nonotov zid [Grandpa’s Wall], offers numerous opportunities for eerie imagery, stemming from the author’s belief that children are often better equipped to face the grotesque than adults. Her wordless picture book Črta [The Line] features a fil rouge that metaphorically connects the action across double-page spreads, representing a technically demanding and innovative intervention. It is an original work that allows the youngest children to interpret the images themselves, weaving their own stories into it as they follow a curious girl on her journey and reliving their first impressions of fleeting events in their lives. Volarič also illustrated her poetry debut, Krožnice večglasnih tišin [Circles of Polyphonic Silences], creating an artist’s book of sorts, which also serves as an inspiration for the poems and images in her second collection of poetry, Nekje notri je uho [Somewhere Inside Is an Ear]. Her darkly symbolic illustrations, featuring the branches of embracing trees, require neither explanation nor title; the meaning lies precisely in the absence of concrete definitions. All that remains is a sense of interconnectedness between humans, animals, plants, and the landscape – not as a relationship, but as a unity. In these poems and images, a rare artistic alchemy comes into being, blending nature, time, light, and humanity into a single moment of silence. In her poetry illustrations she remains stylistically rooted in nature; however, these are not merely observations of life or an idealized pursuit of lighting moods. Instead, the illustrations and verses capture metaphors of her intimate world and silence, which can be read as a reflection on the current state of the world and a critique of contemporary events.

For decades, Ana Zavadlav has been creating vibrantly coloured, humorous illustrations that resonate deeply with young children. For older audiences, however, her approach shifts. In her visual interpretation of Čriček in temačni občutek [The Cricket’s Healing], by Dutch writer Toon Tellegen, her unpremeditated drawings masterfully follow the author’s absurd whims. Her black-and-white charcoal illustrations for his second book, Jež in samotni občutek [The Hedgehog’s Dilemma], are refreshingly different yet equally masterful. She also created superb illustrations for the Slovenian edition of Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales, published in two volumes. These drawings were created as if she was in a trance-like state of creativity: since unpremeditated drawing allows no corrections, she relies on intuition, successfully capturing the exact right moments. Her drawings, imbued with grace, sneak between the text like croquis, eventually settling in to shine with the emotions a reader feels when absorbing the folk narratives. In Dekle, obljubljeno soncu [The Girl Promised to the Sun], which features folktales from the former Yugoslavia, women are portrayed as central – although not always positive – protagonists. The images are shrouded in quiet anticipation and blend in with the fairy tales in an almost ascetic orderliness. In the picture book Pesmice za najmanjši žep [Poems for the Tiniest Pocket], Zavadlav and the poet Andreja Borin created a small masterpiece on fundamental human insights. The verses are mirrored in the fragile tenderness of pastel drawings, where the variety of colours, softened to the point of transparency, supports both dark and light motifs. The range of Zavadlav’s artistic solutions is vast. She is a master of complex, colour-rich, and playful motifs rooted in painting and printmaking, as well as dramatic scenes, refined vignettes woven into the text, and minimalist drafting techniques. Sometimes her approach is more rational, as she gradually assembles scenes through various combinations; at other times, it is direct and spontaneous. It is, however, always superb.

Illustrators constantly engage with new visual solutions and revitalise painting techniques, increasingly incorporating elements of film, comics, animation, electronic media, and other modern technologies. Each generation of illustrators, at the height of their creative power, have paved the way for the next. From the sturdy roots and lush shoots of this branch of visual art, we can witness exuberant growth – successes that we rightfully admire both at home and on the international stage. In this context, we are grateful for this insight into the intertwined illustrations of three of Slovenia’s top artists: Ana Maraž, Tina Volarič, and Ana Zavadlav.

Tatjana Pregl Kobe

Ana Maraž

Born on 10 May 1985 in Šempeter pri Gorici, Ana Maraž graduated in fine arts pedagogy from the Faculty of Education of the University of Ljubljana, in 2011, under the mentorship of Prof. Zdenko Huzjan and Prof. Beatriz Tomšič Čerkez. Since 2017, she has worked in illustration as a freelance cultural worker. She exhibits and publishes her works in renowned children’s magazines at home and abroad, and her illustrations have also appeared in the books Kako dolg je čas [How Long Is Time] by Mate Dolenc (Beletrina, 2019); Božaj veter [Caress the Wind] by Miroslav Košuta (2021); Protideževna juha [No More Rain Soup] by Majda Koren (KUD Sodobnost International, 2023); Narisati ptico [To Draw a Bird] by Kaja Teržan (Mladinska knjiga, 2024); Njam, njam, marmelada [Yum, Yum, Jam] by Majda Koren (KUD Sodobnost International, 2025); and Spanje, sladko kakor karamela [Sleep as Sweet as Caramel] by Nina Kokelj and Aleš Solina (Mladinska knjiga, 2025). She illustrated the cover of Lidija Dimkovska’s collection of poetry Mejno stanje [Border State] (Mladinska knjiga, 2023); and a cover of Cicido magazine (Volume 27, 2024/2025). She has had several solo exhibitions and regularly participates in important domestic and international biennial events and group exhibitions, and has received multiple awards: the Hinko Smrekar Honour at the 11^th Biennial of Slovenian Illustration, in 2014; the award for best book illustration at the Ilustrofest in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2021; and the Golden Pear quality label for her illustrations for Božaj veter [Caress the Wind]. Her illustrations for the book Kako dolg je čas [How Long Is Time] were included in the Golden Pinwheel in Shanghai, China, in 2021; and in the same year at the 14^th Slovenian Biennial of Illustration she received a special commendation by an individual jury member; illustrations from the picture book Protideževna juha [No More Rain Soup] were included in the 58^th International Exhibition of Children’s Illustration in Bologna, Italy, in 2024, and this book received the Golden Pear quality label and the Kristina Brenkova Award for the best original Slovenian picture book the same year. It was subsequently published in Latvia, Serbia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Croatia. She is a member of the Northern Primorska Association of Fine Artists, and the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies and its Illustrators’ Section. She lives and works in Vipava.

Tina Volarič

Born in 1980 in Šempeter pri Gorici, Tina Volarič attended the Most na Soči Primary School and continued her education at the Secondary School for Design and Photography in Ljubljana. She then studied ethnology and cultural anthropology at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana, which she graduated from in 2005 and where she completed her master’s degree studies in 2011. During her studies, she worked as a proofreader and editor, while beginning to illustrate books for children and also adults. In 2015, she became a freelance cultural worker. She has participated in several solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad and received several recognitions and awards. Her first picture book, Zgodba o zamorčku Bambuleju in vrtoglavi žirafi [The Story of Bambule and the Dizzy Giraffe] by Frane Milčinski – a.k.a. Ježek (Sanje, 2010) – was declared the most beautiful book for children and youth at the 26^th Slovenian Book Fair. The illustrated narrative about a guardian of dry-stone walls, Nonotov zid [Grandpa’s Wall] (Škocjan Caves Park, 2021), was her first original picture book. Her unique wordless picture book Črta [The Line] (Miš, 2021) received the Golden Pear quality label and was included on the IBBY Silent Books collection. For her illustrations for the popular-science book Karlo in Stanko [Karlo and Stanko], by Marko Klavora and David Kožuh (Goriška Museum, 2023), she received the Hinko Smrekar Medal at the 15^th Slovenian Biennial of Illustration. The picture book Rime na veter [Wind Rhymes], by poet Milan Šelj (ZTT, 2024), was nominated for the Kristina Brenkova Award for the best original Slovenian picture book. At the Urška Festival of Young Literature in 2013, she received an award for her self-illustrated debut collection of poetry Krožnice večglasnih tišin [Circles of Polyphonic Silences], which included the publication of work released by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia in 2014. In 2023, she self-published the bilingual poetic artist’s book Sosedje in tovariši / Neighbours and Companions. She also illustrated her second collection of poetry, Nekje notri je uho [There Is an Ear Somewhere Inside] (Goga, 2025). Volarič is a member of the Northern Primorska Association of Fine Artists, and the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies and its Illustrators’ Section. Her work is also presented on the website of the Illustration Centre. She has moved from Most na Soči to the Karst region, where she currently lives and works.

Ana Zavadlav

Born in Šempeter on 24 April 1970, Ana Zavadlav graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana under the mentorship of Prof. Janez Bernik, and continued her studies in the postgraduate programme for printmaking under the mentorship of Prof. Branko Suhy. In 1993, she received the Student Prešeren Award, and in 1994 the University Prešeren Award. In 1999, she attended the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the United States on a study exchange. After her studies, she worked for a while as a printmaker, but since 2003 she has devoted herself primarily to book illustration. She has had several solo exhibitions of illustrations and participated in major domestic and international exhibitions of illustration. The awards and recognitions she has received include the Smrekar Honour for popular science illustration in 2006; a special jury commendation for the Hinko Smrekar Award (selected by Judita Krivec Dragan) in 2010; the Hinko Smrekar Honour in 2014; the Hinko Smrekar Honour for popular science illustration in 2016; the Levstik Award in 2019 and 2021 for illustrations from Čriček in temačni občutek [The Cricket’s Healing] by Toon Tellegen, which were also exhibited at the 4^th International Illustration Competition in South Korea and at the 34^th Bologna Children’s Book Fair; and the Hinko Smrekar Medal in 2021 and the Levstik Award for original illustrations of the Slovenian version of Italo Calvino’s Italian Folktales in 2023. For these, she also received the Hinko Smrekar Award at the 15^th Biennial of Slovenian Illustration in 2024. Books with her illustrations have been nominated several times for the Kristina Brenkova Award for best original Slovenian picture book, an accolade that she won in 2025 for her illustrations of Andreja Borin’s collection of poetry Pesmice za najmanjši žep [Poems for the Tiniest Pocket] (Mladinska knjiga, 2025). She has been included on the IBBY Honour List and nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and is a member of the Northern Primorska Association of Fine Artists, and the Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies and its Illustrators’ Section. She lives and works in Solkan, Slovenia.