Danielle Ridolfi

Danielle Ridolfi is a Lecturer in both the English Department and the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Her dual specialties span children's studies and illustration/visual cultural studies. She teaches courses in the Children's Studies Minor, including critical analyses of children's visual media, and studio classes on narrative and picturebook illustration at the Sam Fox School.

Education: MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture (Sam Fox School, Washington University) and PhD in Clinical Psychology (Kent State University). Her clinical background informs her research on sociocultural factors like media imagery’s impact on youth.

Research focuses on children's picturebooks’ pedagogical use, historical legacies, and how illustrated media perpetuate racism. Her work bridges illustration, early childhood education, and material culture. Her debut picturebook When the Dark Clouds Come (HarperCollins, 2025) combines collage art with themes of environmental and emotional connection.

Professional experience includes St. Louis design agencies and typography-focused projects. Scholarly essays appear in Uppercase, The Common Reader, and Journal of Illustration.