Newcastle Natural History Illustration - Page1

ILLUSTRATION

The art of science

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By applying a centuries-old craft to modern reseerch, scientific illustrators continue to build our knowledge of the natural world.

I I I

T'S NoT DIFFICULT

for students of

the

'

University of Newcastle's Bachelor

of Natural History Illustration course to find inspiration in the vast, natural classroom that surrounds their faculty in the university's bushy r3o ha Callaghan

gum, native grasses and an artificial wetland replete with birds, frogs and lizards proclaim the institution's commitment to preserving the campus's natural campus. Stands of towering spotted

character. While the outside environment teems with life, inside reveals a petrified

menagerie of stuffed animals,

mounted

skeletons, drawers lined with coloured pinned bugs and

a

jewel-

herbarium

of

preservedbotanical treasures, The degree course is the only one of its kind in Australia and one of only a handful left in the world. In zoo9, zo students will be enrolled in the undergraduate and postgraduate programs, a number that is steadily increasing

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the course. It informs the zD illustration and creates a greater understanding of

the structure of living things." Demand for skilled model makers is growing as museums continue to swap traditional glass cabinets for dioramas and interpretive displays. The time zoo8 graduate Margaret Gooding spent caring for platypuses at Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria, inspired her fi.nal-year project:

"Many of the unique features of the :

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platypus like the tail spur, venom gland and milk-secreting function are more easily explained through sculpture," she says. Margaret designed her works with a public audience in mind. "Education is the key to the future ofthese creatures - it may excite a passion for protecting species and their environments."

Head of School Anne Llewellyn believes that growing interest in the :

plants and animals.

Alumnus and current staff member Christine Rockley is certain that the pairing of these activities continues to hold the key to expert practice in the modern age: "Students learn to observe both living and preserved specimens and to work closely with experts to create scientifically accurate records," she says. She explains that command of the basic drawing skills can then evolve into other means of creative expression: "Model making is a new and important part of

56 AUSTRAt|AN cEocRAPH

c

seem like a more prac-

tical medium for this work. Not so. as Luke

course is fuelled by rising environmental

explains: "An illustration

awareness and the need for effective

eliminates less important information leaving you to isolate the vital detail about a piece, and you can show more tha one view in the single drawing."

"There has never been a time when recorders... of the natural world have been more needed." Natural history illustration's heyday arrived with the r8th century's Age of Enlightenment, when no voyage of discovery was complete without a complement of scientists and artists. Men like Sydney Parkinson (ec go) combined exhaustive fieldwork with painstakingly close observation to produce trustworthy visual documents of newly discovered

Stephen Bourke,

the dig's director. Photography might

Course graduates are finding

communication of ideas. achievements and strategies by government and private

organisations. "There has never been

a

time when recorders and interpreters of the natural world are more needed," Anne says, pointing out that the interpretation of complex scientific data in a visuai wa1' allows the message to reach a wider and more varied audience.

Luke Davies had a taste of the working conditions endured by expeditioners of yore during his two-month tenure at the University of Sydney's archaeological dig at Pella,Jordan, in zoo7. Two illustrators are employed at all times on this historic site that's been continuously occupied

plethora of ways to ply their craft afte leaving university. Daniel Atkins is th latest illustrator to be seconded to th Lizard Island Research Station in nort Queensland, while others have foun work in movie animation and children textbook illustration. Six recent gradu ates have been immersed in buttert-l

research for AG, creating beautifrillustrations for the butterfly poster, fre to subscribers with this issue. Thel-tblorr- in the footsteps ofthe r4 studeni ir-ho provided the butterfly and fooi plant illustrations for the poster th: appeared with AG z4intgg:. .rG has a long tradition of promoti::

and working in a prefabricated studio,

natural history illustration in the journapag,es and in its renowned art calenda: and from zoog willbe donatingan annu:

Luke, who earned his degree in zoo8, made

-\ustralian Geographic prize of groo,

pen-and-ink drawings of found artefacts for the official record and for publication in articles written by the likes ofProfessor

to be arrarded by Newcastle Universi: to an outstanding graduate.

since Neolithic times. Living under canvas

CHRISSIE GOLDRIC