Dates: June 25 - July 1, 2017
Venue: Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC
Visit the official GNSI 2017 Conference website
Grow your knowledge with speakers, panels, and field trips. Hone your illustration skills with techniques demonstrations and hands-on workshops. Expand your contacts and collaborations with some of the most accomplished scientific visual communicators in the world.
Welcome to beautiful Asheville, North Carolina!
Our host campus is the progressive Warren Wilson College, nestled in the beautiful and temperate Appalachian mountains. Warren Wilson is a small college full of natural beauty and focused on sustainable practices and environmental concerns, surrounded by forests with a remarkable diversity of plant and animal life. Campus trails, rhododendron groves, and an active 275-acre farm, populated by horses, cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens await your discovery. If that’s not enough, nearby Asheville provides art, theaters, museums, restaurants, and craft beer.
>Image: the Blue Ridge Mountains by Paul Fetcho
The GNSI Annual Conference combines “core” programming with additional days of workshops and experiential field trips for a full week of learning, sharing, and fun.
Each conference is unique, but the “core” program generally includes:
- Portfolio sharing and reception - meet colleagues, share your work and stories.
- Plenary presentations – top-notch speakers relate what’s new in our field.
- Program sessions - topics related to business issues, art techniques, and scientific themes.
- Members art exhibit with reception - see the best of peers’ work in this juried show.
- Business meeting - hear Board reports and participate in Guild business.
- Banquet – taste the local cuisine and socialize.
- Auction - bid on artwork, media, materials (and more) to help the Guild’s education fund.
Additional programming includes:
- Workshops - learn about electronic and traditional (and sometimes off-beat) media.
- Field trips – explore local natural areas and visit science and art-centered attractions.
Call for Demos at the Technique Showcase
Do you have an exciting new technique to share? Then consider participating in the 2017 Annual Conference Technique Showcase! We are currently looking for digital tools and techniques. Send a brief description of your technique to Robin Carlson.
Call for Presenters and Instructors
Another exciting way to be part of the conference is by doing a presentation or offering a workshop. Please consider
- Participating in the business panel
- Participating in the panel about education in scientific illustration
- Sharing your knowledge of graphics software such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, in beginner, intermediate or advanced level
- Offering a mini-workshop
Contact Elizabeth Morales for mini-workshops or Peter Green for presentations and panel discussions.
Call for Entries to the 2017 GNSI Annual Members’ Exhibition
Submissions Accepted: January 15 - March 31, 2017
Eligibility: Open to all GNSI members in good standing
Gallery: Elizabeth Holden Gallery, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC
Exhibit Dates: June 25-July 14, 2017
Reception: Monday, June 26, 2017 (during the annual conference)
Submission fee: Free!
Submission limit: 2 pieces per member
Subject: Science or nature-related themes.
Media: original artwork, gallery quality prints, sculpture, or multimedia pieces created with traditional or digital techniques or a mix thereof. No photographs, please.
Acceptance notification by May 18, 2017
How to submit: Exhibit rules and link to the submission form are on the 2017 Conference website.
Deadline to submit is 11:59 PM EDT, Friday, March 31.
>Image: Elizabeth Holden Gallery
2017 Members Exhibit Call Now Open!
January 17, 2017
The 2017 GNSI Juried Members' Exhibit is now accepting entries. Open to all active members, each artist may submit 2 works completed in the last 5 years for consideration. The jury will consider science and natural illustration in the form of original artwork, gallery quality prints, sculpture, or multimedia reproductions of work created with traditional or digital techniques or a mix thereof. No photography accepted.
>Elizabeth Holden Gallery
Deadline: 11:59pm EDT, March 31, 2017
Looking forward to another world-class exhibit of your work!
Conference Website
IT'S HERE! Come and see!
The 2017 GNSI Conference Website is up and running and full of information and details about the hootenanny of GNSI sci-art happening at the highly ranked sustainable Warren Wilson College near Asheville, NC— June 25 - July 1, 2017. Our plenaries this year will cover subjects such as the art of field sketching and notes, interpreting abstract science concepts into visuals, the collaboration between scientists and artists, and naturally the extensive bio-diversity of the Appalachians. To the west, we’ll make trips into eclectic Asheville and its mix of architecture, eateries, galleries and craft breweries. To the east, we are right next to Black Mountain, just voted the prettiest small town in America by TripAdvisor.
Online Conference REGISTRATION starts April 7.
Last Call -GNSI Member's Exhibit Submission
Final Call for Entries to the 2017 GNSI Annual Members’ Exhibition
Deadline: 11:59 PM EDT, Friday, March 31.
Eligibility: Open to all GNSI members in good standing
Gallery: Elizabeth Holden Gallery, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC
Exhibit Dates: June 25-July 14, 2017
Reception: Monday, June 26, 2017 (during the annual conference)
Submission fee: Free!
Submission limit: 2 pieces per member
Subject: Science or nature-related themes.
Media: original artwork, gallery quality prints, sculpture, or multimedia pieces created with traditional or digital techniques or a mix thereof. No photographs, please.
Acceptance notification by May 18, 2017
How to submit: Exhibit rules and link to the submission form are on the 2017 Conference website.
2017 Auction Call
Rare prints and rare art supplies! Crazy crafts and carefully created compositions! It is time to dig around in your closets and studios, or even better to create something original to donate to the GNSI Annual Auction, Tuesday - June 27, at the 2017 GNSI Conference at Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC.
Auction proceeds are split 50/50 between the GNSI General Operating Fund and the GNSI Education Fund – the Annual Auction is a MAJOR fundraiser, both for maintaining our day to day organizational upkeep and for providing outreach opportunities to our chapters.
You can bring your marvelous donations to the registration desk during the conference, because of course! You ARE coming! Or you can ship ahead. Please contact Amelia Janes for unusual shipping needs. AUCTION FORM is available for download. Please print one form for each item and include with your shipment.
Ship Items to Amelia Janes
>Image: Sara and John at the 2016 auction by Amelia Janes
Remember the GNSI Auction!
Artwork! Sketchbooks! Prints! Supplies! That quirky item you acquired on your last vacation! Donate anything you wish to the 2017 GNSI Auction, June 27 at Warren Wilson College, outside Asheville, NC.
Unusual items add to the fun, and we especially appreciate donations of original artwork!
Auction proceeds are split 50/50 between the GNSI General Operating Fund and the GNSI Education Fund – the Annual Auction is a MAJOR fundraiser, both for maintaining our day to day operations, and to support chapter activities and outreach.
You can bring your marvelous donations to the registration desk during the conference, or ship ahead. Please download the AUCTION FORM and include with your shipment. Include one form for each item. Contact Amelia Janes if you have unusual shipping needs.
Ship Items to Amelia Janes
>Image: Silent auction items getting ready for the after party at the 2016 GNSI Auction, Santa Cruz, CA! by Amelia Janes
The Bidding War
June 4, 2017
A Silent Auction sounds polite, quiet and civilized—like sipping tea with your pinky extended. Wrong! Our silent auction is a fast-paced scurry of tracking your desired one-of-a-kind items, with the occasional BIDDING WAR! Come to the 2017 GNSI Conference Auction and engage in battle for unique must have objects you never knew you wanted.
Bring donations to the registration desk during the conference, or ship ahead. Please contact Amelia Janes for unusual shipping needs. AUCTION FORM is available for download. Please print one form for each item and include with your shipment.
Ship Items to Amelia Janes
>Image: Bidding war during the silent auction by Amelia Janes
GNSI Conference Update
Early Conference Registration - Save money and get the classes!
Make sure to go over to the GNSI conference website and register as soon as possible, before all your favorite workshops and field trips sell out. The Conference (June 25-July 1) at the Warren Wilson College near Asheville, NC will also have a great lineup of plenaries and presentations, fun evening events and a lot more.
Help GNSI spread the word by printing the conference poster and place it around your community. Also, don’t forget to donate to the annual auction, which is a great way to contribute even if you cannot attend this year.
>Poster design by Amanda Zimmerman. Featured art by Kim Moss.
Volunteer Opportunities
On a tight budget? Check out the volunteering opportunities! Meet new people, help the conference run smoothly, and deepen your connection to the organization. The first twenty people to commit to at least five hours of volunteer work at the conference will be eligible to receive a $100 refund on their registration after the conference.
New to GNSI?
Take the opportunity to join at a discounted rate. Save $26 on a one-year digital membership when you register for the conference (regular fees apply on subsequent years). When going through the registration process simply check "I am a new member (discount subject to verification)". If you need assistance contact the GNSI webmaster or GNSI Membership Director.
New Blue Ridge Mountains Article
Read Dr. Amy Boyd's newly posted article on the natural history of the western North Carolina region!
>Image by Dr. Amy Boyd
Only two days until the end of Early Registration for the 2017 GNSI conference in Asheville, North Carolina. Early registration ends May 26th, at Midnight EDT. Save $50 on Core Registration, or $10 for a Day Registration. To see all the details visit the GNSI Conference website today! There is already a crowd coming, so don't be the last one to the party.
2016 GNSI Mural After Life
June 19, 2017
The 2016 Santa Cruz GNSI Conference generated a set of large chalk murals. They are now ready for a new life helping the GNSI financially. I am writing on behalf of the GNSI, asking the artists who worked on the murals to sign a permissions/rights form regarding the work you did at the Kelp Forest Chalk Mural event last summer. The mural was conceived to be an ethereal thing. A moment. An event. It ended up as 3 rather large objects. In fact, they ended up on public display for months last summer at the Marine Sanctuary Education Center – was a grand perk!
Now, with the Board's approval, it has been decided that the murals will be cut up into panels and auctioned off. The funds raised will be used for GNSI educational and general activities.
Please read the PDF release, and identify the images you contributed to the mural. I hope all participants will sign it and return the form to me.
Please remember to tell me the number superimposed over it. For example, you might tell me: Panel 1 #24.
Hope to hear back from you all soon, as we want to have some of the small, frameable sections in this year's auction at the meeting in North Carolina.
Taina Litwak
The GNSI 2017 Members Exhibit on Display
August 18, 2017
After a hiatus from a physical exhibit in 2016, the GNSI Member’s Exhibit came back in fine form at the 2017 Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. Submission of over 200 entries for the jury process might be a record breaker, and 67 pieces made the final cut for hanging in the Elizabeth W. Holden Gallery at Warren Wilson College.
>2017 Exhibit. Photo by Amelia Janes
The packed Exhibit featured a broad range of beautifully illustrated specimens, informational posters, diagrammatical medical subjects, conceptual paleontological scenes, microscopic processes, cross-sections, flight patterns, metamorphosis, and life cycles. GNSI members celebrate bio-diversity in the natural world, and in their subject matter.
During the Exhibit Reception on Monday evening of the conference, GNSI attendees cast their votes for their top three color, and top two black and white entries. The winners don’t get ribbons, trophies or cash prizes, but are honored with the recognition of colleagues and peers. Winning illustrators and their exhibit pieces are announced during the Wednesday Awards Banquet.
>Portions of the 2017 exhibit on display. Photo by Amelia Janes
Here are the winners of the popular vote for the 2017 GNSI Members Exhibit.
BLACK & WHITE
First Choice:
By Marlene Hill Donnelly
©2016 Marlene Hill Donnelly, Carbon Dust/digital
Purpose:
For scientific publication for Ken Angielczyk, Field Museum.
Second Choice:
Cephalocarpus glabra and C_rigida
By Alice Tangerini
©2015 Alice Tangerini, Pen and brush with ink on drafting film
Purpose:
The purpose was to illustrate a new species in the family Cyperaceae for the article, Three New Cyperaceae from the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region of Guyana (South America) Mark T. Strong, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Botany.
COLOR
First Choice:
Spring's Welcome to All/Apple Blossom
By Rhonda Nass
©2016 Rhonda Nass, ACRYLIC on Canvas/Archival Print
Purpose:
Private commission; self-promotion for the artist.
Second Choice:
By Rebecca Gelernter
©2016 Rebecca Gelernter, Watercolor
Purpose: Portfolio
Third Choice:
The Anatomy of the Beak of the Flamingo
By Xavier Pita
©2012 Xavier Pita, Digital
Purpose: Academic Work
2017 GNSI Conference ID Hunt
September 8, 2017 - 3:27pm
Help us ID all the GNSI members in the Group Photo from this past summer's conference!
Use the Zoomified image to find people you know and send the Number/Name for Britt Griswold to add them to the list.
>2017 group photo with number overlay
Notes and acknowledgments:
This blog post is a compilation of multiple blog articles and announcements relating to the 2017 GNSI Annual Conference.