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 I
grew up with an interest in both art and science. As a double
major in Drawing & Painting and Biology at the Mississippi
University for Women, I began my quest to combine these
different subjects into a career. By the time I graduated I had
learned that there was a field called science illustration. I
knew this was for me. Two years later, after having received my
Master of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts
and Crafts with a specialization in scientific illustration, I
found myself freelancing at the California Academy of Sciences
in San Francisco, California. This led to the staff position of
Artist/Photographer for the Morrison Planetarium at that museum,
a position I held for sixteen years.
While much of my early freelance art included
botanical and biological subjects, by 1995 I decided to
concentrate on astronomical themes. This was the year that the
first planet was discovered around a sunlike star, 51 Pegasi,
and I wanted to create a painting of what this planet might look
like. Soon thereafter the team of Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler
announced their first two extrasolar planet discoveries. I
contacted Dr. Marcy to ask if he might be willing to share his
scientific findings with me so that I might illustrate his new
planets. He agreed enthusiastically, and that launched what has
now become my decade-long focus on exoplanets and related
topics. The artwork I have created has been published in a
variety of locations, including documentaries on CNN and PBS,
and in the publications Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, Time,
Newsweek, Eos (Belgium), Science et Vie(France), bild der
wissenschaft (Germany), and Focus (Spain).
I have exhibited my original artwork as well,
at major museums, research centers, and universities. These
include the American Museum of Natural History, Lick
Observatory, NASA Ames Research Center, the Smithsonian, Space
Center Houston, and Stanford University. Some of my imagery
appears on cards and prints at the Novaspace Galleries.
Currently, my working method is to create
color roughs digitally, with final art being completed in one of
three ways: 1) traditionally, with a mixed media combination of
acrylics, acrylic gouache, and colored pencil, 2) digitally
rendered, or 3) as a composite of digital and traditional
elements.
As if to celebrate the tenth anniversary of
the first confirmed extrasolar planet orbiting another sun, I
have illustrated two books on the topics of planets and life in
space that are now available. The first is a children’s picture
book written by Paul Halpern and published by Charlesbridge
Publishing called "Faraway Worlds: Planets Beyond Our Solar
System." It is an excellent introductory book, full of colorful
art that will inspire youngsters.
The second book is for adults and is titled
"Infinite Worlds: An Illustrated Voyage to Planets Beyond Our
Sun." My coauthor is Ray Villard, the News Director at the Space
Telescope Science Institute. Infinite Worlds includes a foreword
by Geoff Marcy and an afterword by Frank Drake, and is published
by the University of California Press. This book is an
exploration of our cosmos; including topics like the formation
of planets and the possibilities for finding life elsewhere in
our universe.
I am a Fellow of the International
Association of Astronomical Artists and a member of the Guild of
Natural Science Illustrators.
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