ARLENE GRASTON was born in Reims, France, to an American father and French mother giving her a dual nationality. She began her career apprenticing as a fashion designer in Paris with the Haute Couture House of Nina Ricci. For them she created a lingerie line and a gold and diamond jewelry collection. Upon coming to New York, she consulted with France on North and South American advertising and promotions; and produced the graphics for the Mademoiselle Ricci Parfum, which became a great success in Japan.
Through her own graphic design studio, Arlene wrote copy, designed logos and advertising, produced catalogues, brochures and illustrations for businesses in the arts as well as numerous national publications including VOGUE, HARPER’S BAZAAR, WWD, and THE NEW YORK TIMES. She designed the posters for the original Broadway productions of BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR and EUBIE! among others. Her trompe l’oeil murals have decorated apartments from Fifth Avenue to Long Island. Some of her corporate clients have included Pierre Cardin, Time-Life Books, the National Energy Foundation, the New York Public Library, and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatre Library. She has published several children’s books as well as spiritual stories for adults.
IN EVERY MOON THERE IS A FACE (Illumination Arts 2003), won Foreword Magazine’s Gold Medal for Best Children’s Picture Book of the Year and was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Arlene’s newest books, DO YOU REMEMBER? and THE CHILDREN’S PROMISE, feature her own meditative writings and color paintings. Her latest work, LET ME REASSURE YOU, is a personal telling of her memories from before birth.
For more than a decade Arlene was represented by the Jane Kahan Gallery, a Madison Avenue art gallery, which exhibited Arlene’s originals and limited edition giclées at prestigious art fairs including Art Antiques London and the International Fine Art and Antiques Dealers Show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. Arlene is now represented exclusively by Visibles, Inc.
