2007 Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Member Exhibition

Media Release

Discover a Unique View Into Your Natural World

The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI) Members Exhibit will be on display at the MSU School of Architecture’s Lower Gallery (located at Cheever Hall) July 16 through July 30, 2007. This exhibit showcases a collection of scientific and nature illustrations created by contemporary artists, who have visually interpreted natural science in its infinite complexity or expressed the essence of a scientific concept in a simplicity that can easily be understood by the public.

This collection of 42 color paintings, black and white drawings, and digital compositions are a visual representation or explanation achieved by the collaboration of scientist, naturalist and artist. Each is a product of each artist’s love of science, nature and art. The artwork is successful if those who view it gain insight into our world and inspiration from the images.

The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, founded by Smithsonian Institution illustrators in 1969, promotes the depiction and communication of science and nature with accuracy and clarity, striving for beauty.

The GNSI exhibit is free and open to the public from 8am – 5pm Monday through Friday, July 16-30, 2007 in the Lower Gallery at Cheever Hall, School of Arhitecture on the Montana State University-Bozeman campus. Cheever Hall is located between S. 11^th Ave. and 12^th Ave., north of W. Grant St. on the Main MSU Bozeman Campus.

Directions: Take College to 11th Avenue- go south 4 blocks to Garfield, Cheever Hall is on your right across from the duck pond. Parking is available by continuing south on 11th to W.Grant in one of the Field House parking lots. Parking requires a permit which can be obtained at the Kiosk at 7th and Grant.

On-line viewing of the exhibit can be found at:
http://www.gnsi.science-art.com/exhibitsgallery.html

Click on an image to see a publication quality version for the images below.


	JPG	John Cody “Copiopteryx semiramis” female / © 2007 Hays, KS USA Transparent Watercolor /Arches 300lb cold press 30”w x 22”h Purpose: Public awareness-to augment visual records of Saturnid moths This is No., 142 in the series of large moth paintings Dr. Cody has done since his retirement from psychiatric practice in 1986. Those completed earlier are regrettably dispersed; those since are preserved as a collection for increasing public awareness. Initially - as long ago as his high school days - his work was motivated solely by aesthetic pleasure in the beauty of the giant (Saturniid) silk moths. In recent decades he has been spurred to greater creative effort because moth populations are diminishing world wide for the usual reasons (habitat destruction and disruption) some species verging on extinction. Species name: Copiopteryx semiramis

	JPG	Clara Richardson “Palms of a Philippine rat (undescribed species)” / ©2007 The Field Museum (Courtesy of L.R. Heaney) Wilmette, IL USA Digital painting using pencil sketch 8.5”w x 11”h Purpose: Illustration for a primary research paper. The palms of these animals are distinctive, making them very useful in field identification.

	JPG	Steve Buchanan “Pollination” / © 2006 Winsted, CT USA Photoshop/Wacom tablet 24”w x 15”h Purpose: US postage 2007 For this design I was searching for a graphic device that would symbolize the co-evolutionary nature of the pollination enterprise. In the published booklets, the stamps will be printed as 2 blocks of four, made by rearrangement of the 4 single stamp images; blocks centered on the flowers alternate with blocks centered on the animals. I was able to choose species that would permit showing organisms in accurate proportional sizes but maintain similar visual weights in the separate stamp images. Amazingly, the design survived the hugely bureaucratic process of stamp approval pretty much unscathed! Species names: Bombus morrisoni with Solanum xanti Stellula calliope with Epilobium canum Leptonycteris yerbabuenae with Carnegiea gigantea Colias cesonia with Vernonia fasciculata

	JPG	Ikumi Kayama "Asymmetric metamorphosis of *Paralichthys dentatus"* / © 2007 Baltimore, MD USA Graphite and Adobe Photoshop 10"w x 13"h Purpose: Class assignment for Continuous tone/Digital Imaging classes at Department of Art as Applied to Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Extensive research was done of development of juvenile summer flounder, including meetings with content expert Dr. Alex Schreiber of Carnegie Institute Species name: Paralichthys dentatus

	JPG	Theophilus Britt Griswold ”Universe Timeline” / © 2007 NASA/WMAP Science Team Annapolis, MD, USA Photoshop and Strata 3D 15w "x 11h" Purpose: Visual representation of the the expansion and age of the universe to grab the attention of the public media's attention for a Release of new mission science data. In newspapers world wide as part of a NASA Press release. / February 2006 I devised the concept in conjunction with the lead scientist. Then utilizing new art elements and existing images created from previous projects, I created a new image to meet the goal. The trickiest part was designing the shape of the "bell" to give a proper "impression" of the universe's expansion profile.