Janelle Gelfand | Enquirer staff writer

Artist Mary Grandpre.

W H E N   Y O U   G O

What: The Art of Storytelling, original paintings by Harry Potter illustrator Mary GrandPre When: Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Friday. Exhibition Friday through July 31. Where: Closson's Phyllis J. Weston Art Gallery, Hyde Park. Admission: Free. Information: (513) 762-5510 or www.clossons.com

Her illustrations are known to millions of Harry Potter fans. Now Mary GrandPre, illustrator for the Harry Potter series, featured on the cover of Time and artist for Cincinnati Opera's 2004 Summer Festival, is on the brink of a new style of painting, all her own.

GrandPre will be in Cincinnati Friday for her first gallery show of original artwork, The Art of Storytelling, at Closson's Phyllis J. Weston Art Gallery in Hyde Park, Friday through July 31. Her painting, "Carmen," commissioned by the Cincinnati Opera, and her self-portrait, "Moonpie," will be included in the exhibit.

She spoke with the Enquirer from Sarasota, where she lives.

Why is this your first gallery show?

I've been parts of shows; just had some work in the Norman Rockwell Museum, but I've never really had a show of my own. There seems to be this line between illustration and fine arts.

Some of the great artists such as Henry Farny and Winslow Homer were also illustrators. Do you think you might someday go into painting?

I'm just actually starting to work on canvases with oil paint. I used to paint when I was younger. But I'm starting to take some time off from the illustration world and do more art that means something to me personally.

How has your life changed since Harry Potter?

It's just become more complex. A lot of other doors have opened for me. It's given me some notoriety, although that can also be hard to deal with when I'm pigeonholed as the Harry Potter artist. Actually, my personal artwork is not much like Harry Potter at all.

What other artists influence or inspire you?

Marc Chagall a lot right now, because of his whimsical, dreamy, fun approach. Henry Moore and Edward Hopper, for sculptural form, simplicity and organic shapes. When I was a kid, I used to really enjoy the stained glass windows in the church.

What do you bring to your art?

I try to create pictures that people can relate to emotionally ... to create work that is believable or real enough to draw people in, but then has some kind of twist or fantasy to it that takes it to a different level.

In "Carmen," what mood did you try to capture?

I really just wanted to bring her attitude to it. The mood is flirtatious, and there's a little bit of evil in there, too. But there is the humane part of her too, that longs to be free. She has this free-spirited gypsy kind of thinking about her. So I used the bird symbolism, with a rope around its feet as it is untangling, just to remind us that she's like that bird too, and she needs her freedom.

Is there a piece that you especially love in this show?

"Moonpie" is my favorite. I did it while I was going through a tough divorce a few years ago (I'm now happily married). I wrote a poem that went with it. I like to work from an idea or words. I do that as an illustrator, and sometimes with my personal work.

Will there be some Harry Potter illustrations as well?

I'm showing working drawings or sketches that I own. One is a sinking ghost ship that was in Book Four. There's also one of Harry at the Mirror of Erised. There are also some pencil sketches from a Harry Potter calendar and scenes from Book One.

Why do you think your work carries over so well into the opera world?

My work has a sense of storytelling to it, of character and situation, or relationships between characters. I think that I'm able to evoke a mood strongly with light and color that is obviously important in opera. And it has a certain dramatic quality to it, perhaps.

Will you be illustrating any operas next year?

We're talking about the possibility of that. I hope so.