In 1982, the couple formed their own graphic design firm, Jenkins & Page, headquartered first in New York City, then in Boulder, Colo., where they moved in 1994. Jenkins initially did some work in advertising and then took positions at a few design firms. from the School of Design, Jenkins moved with Page to New York City where both landed jobs in commercial design. It was at NC State’s School of Design where Jenkins met his wife, fellow artist and designer Robin Page. Though Jenkins initially planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a scientist, when he was heading to college at North Carolina State University, he decided “on a whim” to major in graphic design, as the art students on campus looked like they were having more fun. He has said that he came to both of these passions by way of his father, who was a “frustrated artist.” The elder and younger Jenkins would perform science experiments together and collaborate on projects like animal scrapbooks and drawings of lizards and bugs they had captured in their ventures outdoors. I also spent a lot of time with books.” Jenkins was enthralled by science and loved to draw and paint what he saw in nature. But no matter where they lived, Jenkins said, “I maintained a small menagerie of lizards, turtles, spiders and other animals and collected rocks and fossils. In an interview with Something About the Author, Jenkins recalled a childhood as a military brat, moving frequently while his father served in the military and pursued science degrees at various universities.

Jenkins was born on Main Hickory, N.C., to Alvin, a physics professor, and Margaret, a bank employee and homemaker.

Award-winning children’s author and illustrator Steve Jenkins, widely praised for his distinctive and detailed cut- and torn-paper collages depicting animals and the natural world, died on December 26 at age 69, of a splenic artery aneurysm.

The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins