The members of the GNSI-Great lakes Chapter invite all GNSI members living in the Great Lakes region to join us for an exhibit this summer. 

ELIGIBILITY: Open to all current GNSI members living in the Great Lakes region. 
SUBJECTS: Plants, animals, habitats, & any natural subjects of Illinois or the Midwest
MEDIUM: Any 2D medium except photography
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: May 8 
EXHIBIT LOCATION: Lost Valley Visitor Center in Glacial Park, Route 31 & Harts Road, Ringwood McHenry County, Illinois

Artist, Entrepreneur & GNSI Member Linda Howard Bittner announces the launch of her new wildlife art & photography travel company Wild Art Safaris, LLC.

The JNSI editorial staff could use some assistance gathering special topic articles and ongoing help with article collection!

1] SIGNS AND MURALS WRANGLER:

From the moment I could see over the top of my mother’s drawing board, I was captivated by the magic of a blank sheet of paper turning into an image. I saw her hand with pen, pencil or brush create charming animals – often for me. That fascination never left me. All through school, in the Philadelphia suburbs, my interest especially centered on Art and Biology. Just before graduation, my biology teacher told me about medical art schools — information that I stored in my mind.

> Trudy Nicholson at he work desk. Photo © Mike Nicholson

Field Trip to Denver Botanical Garden and the Museum of Nature and Science

The action-packed week at the Boulder Annual GNSI Conference in July somewhat addled my brain – in a wonderful way, of course! I had forgotten one of the reasons I signed up for this field trip. Imagine my visual delight when our Friday field trip group walked into the Denver Botanical Gardens and I saw the Dale Chihuly artwork exhibit nestled in the plantings.

>2014 GNSI Conference field trip to DBG Greenhouse

GNSI member Mervi Hjelmroos-Koski is leading the charge on a Kickstarter project for the Denver Botanic Gardens School of Botanical Art and Illustration, the location of one of our 2014 conference field trips.

The project is entering the final stretch, and the fundraising effort has been very successful. Now is a great opportunity to score one of the reward items when you donate!  The Kickstarter project page is here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/994091899/practice-makes-perfect-a-...

The Beehive Collective (http://beehivecollective.org/) is a revolving group of people who have volunteered for decades in combining art, education, and activism.

The Collective approaches their art as the creation of a teaching tool. At the GNSI annual conference, Nicole DeBarber presented  on the creation of a poster drawn on an 8 by 4-foot piece of watercolor paper, inked on over a 9 year period by multiple artists, with multiple research trips to Central America to gather the stories of the people and learn about the glories and dangers of living there. The poster tells of the cultural myths/history and the environment, as well as the corporate planning of the future of the region.

Ann's DuBois has launched a Kickstarter project as a method for bringing her next book project to fruition. Ann's goal is to fund top-quality publication of her Plants of Life book, which will feature 38 original paintings of plant life, her personal story about each one, and their historical background.

Ann's project has been selected by Kickstarter as one of their "We Love it" choices!

Some of you may know that GNSI has a Closed Group on Facebook (only members can see content). The GNSI Portugal chapter has one as well, as do several of the USA chapters such as GNSI Northern California. And GNSI Carolinas and GNSI Great Plains have Facebook public pages.

Finally, GNSI, Inc. has started a Facebook page too. Founded on May 21st, within seven days we have almost 350 likes!  We will be featuring current news, events, and our member's artwork. If you would like to sign up to be featured on the GNSI Facebook page, fill out this short Jot form and we will put you on the list of possible postings.

The Tesla Project is an all-day extravaganza dedicated to celebrating the genius of Nikola Tesla, a visionary scientist and engineer whose electrical inventions transformed the world.

Inaugurated in 2010, The Tesla Project includes an art exhibition, a line-up of bands, Tesla-Roadsters, computer enrichment activities for children, a film, Tesla coil demos, and how-to-presentations.

Chugach Arts Council in Seward Alaska is gearing up for its 2nd year of Art of Conservation projects.

Artists of all ages, abilities and mediums are invited to submit art to be included in beautiful books of art to be published this year in connection with National Pollinator Week, Endangered Species Day and World Oceans Day. In addition a book featuring Public Lands & National Wildlife Refuge Projects will be created. Deadline for submissions has been extended to May 26, 2014.

The GNSI-DC Chapter invites submissions for the upcoming exhibit, Beautiful Maryland: Natural Science Illustrations of the Chesapeake Bay Region, from all members that have attended at least one GNSI-DC meeting in the last year.

TIMELINE:

The Huyck Preserve is accepting applications for our COM.EN.ART program for 2014.

COM.EN.ART (COMmunity.ENviroment.ART) is an Artist-in-Residence program for natural history illustrators offered by the Huyck Preserve, a biological field station and 2000-acre nature preserve in the picturesque Hudson Valley hamlet of Rensselaerville, NY. This two-week residency is designed to provide concentrated field experience and study for illustrators, as well as encourage interaction and discussion about nature among artists, with scientists and with the community. The artists contribute a finished piece of artwork and submit a sketch to the Preserve's ongoing artists' sketchbook in exchange for studio and rustic living quarters. The residencies can take place between May and September.