Dear GNSI members and Friends,

The same group that worked so hard to defeat the Orphaned Works bill in Congress is going on the offensive to help secure real benefits for U.S. artists. They will be presenting this month to the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO). The intent is to gain recognition in the international community as an official organization handling reproduction rights funds.

It is with profound sorrow that I inform you of the death of my friend, nature illustrator Hedvig Østern of Norway. Elaine Hodges introduced us at the GNSI conference in 1988, and we have remained pen friends since. Hedvig came again to the GNSI conference in 1996, and in 1998 I visited her at her home and studio near Drammen. Only then did I realize the full extent of her artwork. Despite physical disabilities and poor health, Hedvig had nevertheless documented much of Norway’s alpine flora in watercolor. Hedvig did not limit herself to flowers: she also painted fungi, fossils, and butterflies, teaching herself by making models of butterfly wings.

> Nancy Halliday with Hedvig Østern, GNSI conference, Washington DC, 1996.

This is an edited virtual roundtable discussion held online. Transcribed for the September 2010 GNSI newsletter column "Ripped From the List "- edited by Stephan DiCerbo, and now edited for online presentation.

Gail Guth emailed the list about a fellow who wanted to avoid the cost of repro rights on someone else’s images by tracing them and was concerned—with good reason—if he was infringing on copyrights. The thread brought out various takes on the issue, some of which you might find surprising. This thread also touches upon “fair use for educational purposes” and “government use and public domain.” – Stephen Di Cerbo

A new book on the architecture of leaves, Manual of Leaf Architecture, by Ellis, Daly, Hickey, Johnson, Mitchell, Wilf and Wing, goes into great detail, assigning names and descriptions to important characters that distinguish different leaves. Size, shape, lobing, surface texture, apex and base and margins all are fully described and named and are characteristics we should be aware of as artists.

One of the highlights of the year for the GNSI D.C. chapter was a tour of the newly renovated Mammal Hall at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution. We had a great turn out on March 16, 2004, of approximately 25 members for the fabulous tour led by Sally Love, NMNH Exhibit Developer assigned to the renovation of the hall.

Sally led us not only through the new hall, but through the trials and tribulations of designing the hall, demolishing the old, contracting design firms, major construction, fundraising, scientist/designer/writer meetings (“pencils were thrown”), and all the ups and downs inherent to a large project such as this.