Many of you may already know that 40 years ago today, on November 10, 1969, Sesame Street – the longest running children’s program on U.S. television premiered on the Children’s Television Network. For myself and many others, the characters of Sesame Street were like part of the family – we watched every day, had Sesame Street books, stuffed dolls, wall paper, and other paraphernalia.  More than that, the show grabbed our attention long enough for us to learn something.

In honour of my childhood nostalgia and, since this is an art blog, I am pleased to present the artist behind many of the Sesame Street illustrations, Joe Mathieu. Mathieu has been a freelance illustrator since his graduation from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1971. He worked with Houghton Mifflin in Boston and McGraw Hill in New York illustrating books and stories, as well as for advertising agencies. In 1972, he began working with Random House when the company had begun publishing books for Sesame Street.

Mathieu has illustrated numerous books and has created thousands of illustrations for Sesame Street products such as clothing, and interactive toys. He has also illustrated hundreds of features for Sesame Street Magazine. As well as Sesame Street, Mathieu has illustrated over 100 children’s books written by well known writers including Laura Numeroff, Marlo Thomas and Dr. Seuss. The book “Don’t Be Silly Mrs. Millie!”, was one listed as one of TIME magazine’s top ten best children’s books of 2005.

For most of his career, Mathieu worked with the traditional pencils, inks, and paper to create his illustrations.  In 2002, however, he began painting digitally and now makes most of his works with a computer. Mathieu’s working relationships with Random House and Sesame Workshop continue to this day.

For more information about Joe Mathieu, visit JoeMathieu.com. For more information about the history of Sesame Street visit SesameStreet.org or Wikipedia.