April 19, 2010

*******Illustration students exhibit at Natural History Museum***

If you've ever wondered about the artwork that illustrates science textbooks, field guides, and interpretive signs in parks and nature preserves, you'll have the opportunity to learn about it when an exhibit opens next month in Pacific Grove.

Illustrating Nature, an exhibit of work by students in the CSU Monterey Bay Science Illustration Program, will be on display at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History May 8 through June 5. The public is invited to an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. May 7 at the museum, located at 165 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove.

The 63 artworks and sketchbooks in the exhibit depict everything from numbats to butterworts to Fibonacci patterns in great detail using media including pen and ink, scratchboard, colored pencil, watercolor, gouache, acrylic and digital media.

"This is the first of what will be an annual exhibit at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History," said Lori Mannel, museum director. It's only one example of the partnership between CSU Monterey Bay and the museum.

"The museum has benefited from partnering with CSUMB," Mannel said. "We work with the university's Serving Learning Institute, have six interns working with us and support student capstone projects. Science Illustration graduates also teach the museum's Drawing from the Collection classes to the public."

Last fall, the Science Illustration program relocated from UC Santa Cruz Extension to CSUMB. One of the most prestigious programs of its kind in the nation, it prepares students who are sought after by scientific institutions and publications around the world. Graduates are working at the Smithsonian Institution; New York's American Museum of Natural History; the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History; the Monterey Bay Aquarium; and National Geographic, Scientific American and Nature magazines.

"We're excited to be able to continue a tradition of partnership with a local natural history museum," said Ann Caudle, program director. "After a rewarding 20-year relationship with the museum in Santa Cruz, we look forward to future collaborations with the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History."

Three events will be held during the run of the exhibit:

April 25, May 2, 9 and 16 – Art and Nature: Drawing from the Collections, taught by Science Illustration Program graduate Erin Hunter. $95, information/registration: 648-5716, ext. 17May 15, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. – Demonstration of illustration techniques by illustrators featured in the exhibit. FreeMay 22, 2 p.m. – Science Art from Cave Walls to Computer Screens, illustrated lecture about the role of imagery in the formalization of ornithology as a science. Free

Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. More information is available online at www.pgmuseum.org and scienceillustration.org.

Illustration credits: Chipmunk (top) by Angela MeleNumbat (middle) by Cynthia ClarkSeahorses (above) by Annette Filice