# Walter Wick > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Walter_Wick > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Walter_Wick.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wick > Source revision: 1351794343 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Walter Wick** (born February 23, 1953) is an American artist and photographer best known for the elaborate images in two series of [picture book](/source/Picture_book) activities for young children, *[I Spy](/source/I_Spy_(Scholastic))* and *Can You See What I See?*, both published by [Scholastic](/source/Scholastic_Books). ## Early life Wick was born in [Hartford](/source/Hartford), [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut)[citation needed] and grew up in rural [East Granby, Connecticut](/source/East_Granby,_Connecticut).[1] His brother introduced him to photography.[1] Wick studied [photojournalism](/source/Photojournalism) at the [Paier College of Art](/source/Paier_College_of_Art).[1] ## Career After graduation, he opened a studio in New York.[1] He embarked on a career as a commercial photographer and eventually shifted to photo-illustration for books and magazines. He contributed to Scholastic's *Let's Find Out* and *Super Science* series and photographed hundreds of mass-market magazine covers.[2] He also created photographic puzzles for *[Games](/source/Games_(magazine))* magazine.[2] In 1991, Wick began a collaboration with writer [Jean Marzollo](/source/Jean_Marzollo) on the enormously successful *I Spy* search-and-find picture books.[2] Eight original titles were produced and millions of copies sold. Wick received the [Boston Globe](/source/Boston_Globe)-Horn Book first prize for non-fiction for his book *A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder* (1997). His book *Walter Wick's Optical Tricks* was named one of the year's "best illustrated books" by *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. In 2003, Wick and his wife purchased an abandoned 1920 firehouse from the city of Hartford and renovated the building into an art studio.[3][4] Wick originally used a large-format camera for his I Spy photographs, which created 8x10 negatives. He switched to a digital camera in 2004.[2] The scenes he photographs can take anywhere from several days to several weeks to be constructed; each book Wick works on takes about a year of work to complete.[2][3] Wick's collection of work, *Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic*, began touring in 2006 and was exhibited in several museums across the country including the [Vero Beach Museum of Art](/source/Vero_Beach_Museum_of_Art), the [Shelburne Museum](/source/Shelburne_Museum), the [Walters Art Museum](/source/Walters_Art_Museum), [Brigham Young University Museum of Art](/source/Brigham_Young_University_Museum_of_Art)[1] and the [New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA)](/source/New_Britain_Museum_of_American_Art).[5] The New Britain Museum of American Art has featured other exhibits of Wick’s work including *Walter Wick I Spy: Summer, Autumn, and Winter* (2021),[6] and *Walter Wick: Hidden Wonders!* (2023)[5] (which will travel to the [High Museum of Art](/source/High_Museum_of_Art) in Atlanta in 2026-2027). In 2015, the Wicks donated over 80 of his photographs to the NBMAA. ## Personal life Wick is married to Linda Cheverton Wick, a former photo prop stylist for magazines and cookbooks.[4] ## Selected publications - *I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles* (1992) - *I Spy: Christmas* (1992) - *I Spy: Fun House* (1993) - *I Spy: Mystery* (1993) - *I Spy: Fantasy* (1994) - *I Spy: School Days* (1995) - *I Spy: Spooky Night* (1996) - *A Drop of Water: A Book of Science & Wonder* (1997) - *I Spy: Super Challenger!* (1997) - *Walter Wick's Optical Tricks* (1998) - *I Spy: Gold Challenger!* (1998) - *I Spy: Treasure Hunt* (1999) - *I Spy: Extreme Challenger!* (2000) - *I Spy: Year-Round Challenger!* (2001) - *Can You See What I See?: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve* (2002) - *I Spy: Ultimate Challenger!* (2003) - *Can You See What I See?: Dream Machine* (2003) - *Seymour and the Juice Box Boat* (2004) - *Can You See What I See?: Cool Collections* (2004) - *Can You See What I See?: The Night Before Christmas* (2005) - *Seymour makes New Friends* (2006) - *Can You See What I See?: Once Upon A Time* (2006) - *Can You See What I See?: On the Road* (2008) - *Can You See What I See?: On A Scary Scary Night* (2008) - *I Spy: A To Z* (2009) - *Can You See What I See?: Treasure Ship* (2010) - *I Spy: Spectacular* (2011) - *Can You See What I See?: Toyland Express* (2011) - *I Spy: Sticker Book and Picture Riddles* (2012) - *Can You See What I See?: Out Of This World* (2013) - *Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic* (2014) - *Can You See What I See?: Christmas (Board Book)* (2015) - *Hey, Seymour!* (2015) - *Can You See What I See? Big Book of Search-And-Find Fun* (2016) - *A Ray of Light* (2019) - *Can You See What I See?: Hidden Wonders* (2021) - *Can You See What I See?: Curiosity Shop* (2024) - *I Spy: Love* (2024) ## Sources - "About the author" information, *I Spy Fun House: A Book of Picture Riddles* by Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo, New York, Scholastic, 1993, p. 37. - "Artist's Statement" *Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic* by Walter Wick, [Brigham Young University](/source/Brigham_Young_University), 2009. ## References 1. Haddock (April 19, 2009). ["Walter Wick exhibit not for anyone in a hurry"](https://www.deseret.com/2009/4/23/20314017/wick-exhibit-not-for-anyone-in-a-hurry). *[Deseret News](/source/Deseret_News)*. Retrieved 2009-04-30. 1. Morgan, Clancy. ["Meet the photographer behind the 'I Spy' books that captured millions of readers' imaginations"](https://www.businessinsider.com/i-spy-walter-wick-photographer-can-you-see-books-2019-7). *Business Insider*. Retrieved 2023-04-29. 1. Schwalm, Andrea. ["Spending Time With Walter Wick"](https://www.wired.com/2011/11/spending-time-with-walter-wick/). *Wired*. [ISSN 1059-1028](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1059-1028). Retrieved 2023-04-29. 1. Span, Paula (2004-12-16). ["Toys in the Attic, and Everywhere Else"](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/garden/16WICK.html). *The New York Times*. Retrieved 2009-02-27. 1. ["Walter Wick: Hidden Wonders!"](https://nbmaa.org/exhibitions/walter-wick-hidden-wonders). *NBMAA*. 2023-03-31. Retrieved 2026-04-05. 1. ["Walter Wick I Spy: Summer, Autumn, and Winter"](https://nbmaa.org/exhibitions/walter-wick). *NBMAA*. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2026-04-05. ## External links - [Official website](http://www.walterwick.com/) - [Interview by Children's Literature](https://web.archive.org/web/20081011163956/https://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_wick_walter.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Walter Wick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.