Who was Dirk, and how did he get involved in Oz?
Dirk Gringhuis was born September 18, 1918 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From a very early age, he wanted to be an artist. He studied in Chicago and New York, then returned to Michigan to take up his trade. He was first approached to illustrate The Shaggy Man of Oz, but his first and only published Oz work was for The Hidden Valley of Oz. At the time, he was also the head of the art department at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He went on to a number of freelance jobs, worked as both a teacher and curator at Michigan State University, wrote some books of his own, and produced an educational television show about his home state. He died in 1973.
