HOLLAND, Mich. — Inspired by her lifelong bond with the outdoors and passion for art, Holland Christian Middle School art teacher Jenny Geuder has released her third book, focused on the natural world.
Growing up in Hudsonville, Geuder was always drawn to the outdoors.
“I was so much younger than my brother and sister, that I spent a lot of time just out in the back of the pasture, roaming somewhat wild, and it was kind of fantastic,” said Geuder at the Outdoor Discovery Center in Holland Monday.
Her love for nature remained with her, even as she discovered another calling: art.
“My mother was an art teacher, yeah, so I guess I kind of followed in her footsteps, and she was so gracious to teach me everything she knew,” Geuder said. “I’ve kind of known I wanted to do art since I was very little. I knew it was one of my gifts, and how I felt happiest and whole.”
Geuder has spent the past 20 years teaching art to middle school students at Holland Christian, where she found inspiration for her first book.
“A little before 2020, I had this epiphany of an idea. It was probably based on a project; I’ve been teaching my seventh graders all about birds and learning about Audubon. And I thought to myself, I’m going to paint all of Michigan’s birds and make a book,” she said.
That idea eventually became her first book, “Drawn to Birds—A Naturalist Sketchbook,” which was released in 2022.
“It won a National Outdoor Book Award for illustration,” Geuder said.
Her second book combined all of her passions: nature, art, and education.
"Nature Explorer," which is all for kids. It has all the information about animals and critters, and it also has art and science projects in it,” said Geuder. “That was a really amazing process to work on that, and I got to test things out with my own kids and see what they thought.”
Now, just a couple of years later, Geuder’s newest release, “Wonder of Mushrooms,” is ready for readers.
“My editor had this idea. He wanted to do a book with mushrooms, and he knew a poet, the wonderful Maya Zeller, and he just put us two together. Said, would you like to do this project with us. And so, I was the third cook in the kitchen,” Geuder said.
Geuder illustrated pages and pages of mushrooms within the book. With its release, she said her creativity journey is just getting started.
“It’s kind of like I’ve got the bug. Now I want to keep going, so we’ll see where I go from here,” she said.
Geuder encourages others to pursue their dreams, whether it's in writing, art, or other creative outlets.
“There’s a lot of people who want to, want to read what you write and want to hear what you have to say and your opinions on things and your stories. The world needs more stories. So, go for it,” she said.
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