GNSI 2021 Special Projects Award: Joel Floyd
Presented by GNSI President Kalliopi Monoyios, this award is given to the person or persons who have demonstrated special determination to promote and develop major projects and initiatives that are instrumental in furthering the GNSI’s mission, and that required a special determination to pursue into being.  This year we are pleased to present the Special Projects Award to Joel Floyd for his role in steering us through the turbulent waters of pandemic conferencing.

Visualizing Climate Solutions
— By Daisy Chung

The brief from The Washington Post was to create a set of illustrated information graphics to tell one of a series of stories on developing climate solutions. This story is about how these graphics were created.

< © 2021 Daisy Chung. Source: The Washington Post.

Collaborative Creation: Bringing Scientific Illustration and Environmental Agencies Together
—Monika Jasnauskaite

Scientific nature illustration preserves the accuracy and distinguishes closely related species while being appealing and understandable. These features are highly appreciated by environmental agencies in projects aimed at creating educational aids. I had an opportunity to collaborate on such a poster design project which focused on featuring amphibian and reptile species of Lithuania in order to highlight the biodiversity-related to aquacultures. 

Above: Great crested newt (Triturus cristatus). Colored Pencil © 2021 Monika Jasnauskaite.

RRRRipped from the List: Work-for-Hire Contracts
One requirement of the Scientific Illustration Distance Program (SIDP) is to complete an internship. The problem: a student is negotiating a contract with a museum that wants full "work-for-hire"—not an uncommon request—but demanding full usage and copyright with no compensation, no credit for the work, no exception for portfolio and publicity use (e.g., on the SIDP website), and no artists' rights. List members offer answers.

An Artist’s Life Enriched by the Smithsonian
—Jahne Hope-Williams

My training at the Smithsonian all seems so long ago, and in other ways, just yesterday. I have always painted and drawn (encouraged by my father), hence when I got old enough to choose, and it became obvious that opera singing was not going to be in my future, I pushed for art. This story is about being "initiated" into the Guild in 1977.

< Manta rays; pen and ink on canvas. © 2019 Jahne Hope-Williams

Rhode Island School of Design: Natural Science Illustration Courses for All Walks of Life
—Margaret Oliver

Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education (RISD CE) offers a wide range of noncredit programs and coursework for children to adults of all backgrounds, varying interests, and skill levels, who desire to grow creatively. This article is an overview of the program.

< Above: The Conversation; watercolor and gouache, © 2010 Kathy Kelly.

Visual Communication In a High School Classroom

While teaching at any level is never easy, getting teenagers interested in a lesson and keeping their attention is a particular challenge. During 26 years of teaching high school, my philosophy was always, “If I’m bored, then they’re bored”. As a result, no two years of my career were exactly the same and I spent many a summer in professional development, learning new ways to enrich the curriculum.

< Above: Re-created microbe “trading card” of a tardigrade. © 2021 Cheryl Wendling

Book Review: Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink, by Sarah Morrish

There are few instructional books that are dedicated to the use of traditional pen and ink materials in natural history illustration. Those interested in developing those skills now have a new reference thanks to GNSI member, Sarah Morrish, who has written Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink.

< Stag beetle, step 9. Pen and Ink © 2021 Sarah Morrish

Sketchbook
Carol Schwartz

A constant supply of drawing materials accompanied Carol while growing up in Missouri. Carol’s favorite medium is gouache, an opaque watercolor, although she also works digitally, often taking her gouache paintings into Photoshop where she continues to build and improve on them.