March 15 and 16, 2018 – Imagining the Extraordinary: Scientific Illustration from the Renaissance to the Digital Age – Library of Congress Symposium


 A rare opportunity for 2 days of immersion in the nature of scientific illustration at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC! Inspirational speakers from all over the world gathered in the impressive and colorful Thomas Jefferson Building on Capitol Hill to share their expertisriginal documents and fine prints graciously displayed for all to examine by the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress.  Can you imagine the thrill of looking at sketches of Galileo’s moon e and passion for science visualization and the multiple forms that it can take. Invited to travel through time since the Renaissance the audience reflected on the history and evolution of scientific illustration, and its influence on the way people understand the world. The dialogues triggered by the presentations in a spirit of inclusion and discovery demonstrated the power of scientific illustration at extending the reach of human understanding of our place in the natural world and at advancing civilization.


Through early printed images the audience vicariously mapped the sky with Nicolaus Copernicus (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, 1514), observed the craters of the moon for the first time with Galileo Galilei (Sidereus nuncius, 1610) and explored the microscopic world with Robert Hooke (Micrographia, 1665). Today, with technological and multi-dimensional visualizations, the general public can experience all scales from the universe to the molecule. Superposing the scale of galaxies to familiar settings in planetariums gives audiences a feel for the vastness of the universe. And visual languages infused with choices of color, texture, cropping, context, drama, or scale flawlessly lead our eyes from the smoothness of a large object to the complex density of details of individual elements that compose that object. We were exposed to subjects as varied as the death of stars, or the doodling of undergraduate students practicing the scientific process, the birth of early naturalism through the exquisite renderings of the life cycle of insects by Maria Sibella Merian (1647-1717) or the infographics artist’ challenges to tell a science story.
 
Scientists, rare books and digital librarians, technologists, and artists turned into kids in a candy store during this inspiring symposium. And the cherry on the cake was the awe at the still vibrant colors of Pierre Joseph Redouté’s botanical illustrations!

YouTube: 
•    Imagining the Extraordinary: The Unseen
•  Imagining the Extraordinary: The Heavens
•    Imagining the Extraordinary: The Earth
•  Imagining  the Extraordinary:  The Inspired

The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Northwest has collaborated with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture for years. As the museum transforms itself into a more inclusive, open, and interactive “See Through” space, volunteers from the Guild continue to contribute to the popular Family Days. These events are great opportunities to interact with visitors from all around our state, and to encourage visitors of all ages to explore drawing as a way to learn about the natural environment. They also discover the profession of science illustration.
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For illustrators, there is no better way to spend a blistery, rainy, fall day in Seattle than to cozy-up in the Discovery Lab surrounded by specimens of crawly, fuzzy, intriguing specimens. A continuous flow of parents and children wanders through the area to take a breath from the numerous activities that fill up their day of fun, self-directed learning at the museum.
 
In the midst of all the changes at the museum, a quiet, drawing space entices children and parents alike to slow down, focus, make observations, ask questions, and learn about the natural world in our region. And the results are amazing illustrations!
 
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I can’t wait to experience the “See Through” experience that the museum is preparing for its visitors. Looking forward to 2019! 

An inspiring and stimulating evening at the Art Science Salon “Dual Natures: Illuminating the Illustrator’s Mind” at the Kittredge Gallery, Puget Sound University. Invited by Angela Mele, fellow scientific illustrator and education & outreach specialist at the Slater Museum of Natural History, at this collaboration between the museum and the gallery, science illustrators discussed their passion for illustration,  professional path, and what inspires their creations. 

In the intimate space of the gallery, a full room of art and science students, faculty, and community members joined Barbara Ierulli, Liz Clayton Fuller, and myself for short presentations, and extended discussions around some of our artworks. The audience was also invited to express their own artistic talent with a game of “Exquisite Corpse” using museum specimens as inspiration.
 
“Exquisite Corpse” or “Cadavre Exquis” is a game invented in 1925 Paris in a house inhabited by the surrealist poets and authors M. Duhamel, J. Prévert and Y. Tanguy. A group collaboration, and chance-based game played by 3 to 6 participants - each player jots down a word, folds the paper to hide that word, and pass it to the next writer to compose a surprising sentence consisting of a noun, adjective, verb, direct object and adjective. “Le cadavre – exquis – boira – le vin – nouveau” was the fist sentence produced hence the name of the game.
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Popular at gatherings of surrealist artists, the game morphed into an entertaining, collaborative, creative experience,   quickly adopted by writers, poets, and visual artists.  

Members of the Northwest chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators    are showing their artwork at the exhibit  Nature's Call: Natural History of the West, at the  Clymer Museum  in Ellensburg, Washington. Two of my works "Feline Power" and "Deep Sea Tubeworms" are part of this attractive show.

The show provides a unique chance for familiar inhabitants of the Northwest (North American bobcat or grunt sculpin) and unusual forms of life found in the great depths of the  Pacific Ocean (Deep sea tubeworms) to coexist at the museum for a while. The show runs from May 6 through June 25.
Music, food, and wine at the  opening - Friday, May 6 from 5-7 pm.

Artists in this show are  Jennifer Bates,  Sharon Birzer,  Krister Eide,  Emily Eng,  Justin Gibbens, Michael Felber,  Jessica Heide,  Jan Hurd,  Barbara Ierulli,  Susan Jones,  Dan McConnell,  Terri Nelson,  Michelle Poston,  Sylvia Portillo,  Véronique Robigou,  Elizabeth Smith,  Cyndi Tamayao,  Margaret Trent    and  Rachael Whitehead.