Invitation from the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators – Oregon Group President:
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Hello all, and apologies for the late start on getting the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators – Oregon Group gathered this year. 

(I am sending this to a few folks who might be interested but aren’t current GNSI Oregon members. Please feel free to forward this to others, as this is an open meeting! And if you’re a non-member and you’d rather not be contacted with these sorts of activities, please let me know via return e-mail.)

We have our first activity of the year scheduled now thanks to Kris Kirkeby, and we’ll get a final schedule out later, but it’ll look something like this:

A Day at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, Eugene

April 23, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

We have booked a meeting room inside the museum, so that will be our headquarters for the day

The meeting is free for members / $5 for non-members

Everybody needs to pay the museum entrance fee at the door, which is $5 / $3 seniors / Free with UO student ID

If you plan to attend, please let me (Nora – nora@frii.com) know by April 18. We need to head-count for the museum and for potential carpooling.

10 – 10:30 a.m. – Introductions and portfolio sharing. This is informal – don’t stress!! We’ll do a quick around-the-room introduction and show-and-tell. Bring a few of your current pieces. If you don’t want to show your work right now, no worries – not necessary! Folks can wander around and take a look at each other’s work and chat for a few minutes.

10:30 – noon – Study / sketch butterflies from Kris’s collection. Bring sketchbooks, drawing tools, measurement tools, magnification, etc. (It is OK to bring color media into the museum; obviously nothing too messy or noxious. If you have concerns about your media, let me know and we can find out if it’s OK. Small watercolor sets, colored pencils, watercolor colored pencils plus containers and paper towels all are fine.)

Noon – 1 p.m. – Lunch on campus (details TBA, but brown-bag and continued networking/portfolio sharing will probably be the best option)

1 – 2 p.m. – Tour the museum, with commentary by Kris, who will also talk about her science illustration work we will see at the museum, and the process of working with the archeology/paleo staff there. This will be an opportunity to learn about securing actual paying work with actual scientists!

2 – 3:30 p.m. – Continue to work with butterflies. 

3:30 – 4 p.m. – Plan next meeting and future activities. The tentative plan is for a June meeting in Portland, hopefully to include some technique-boutique stuff. Also, perhaps discuss carpooling to annual GNSI meeting in July in California.

Hello, everyone,

Fun class session today as the workshop with Kris Kirkeby brought together the arts and sciences again through hands-on practice in this creative way.

A few reminders about upcoming course scheduling:

Journal 18:
If you haven’t done it already, make certain to complete Journal 18 overviewing what you learned about your project through Tuesday’s review and self-assessment. What are your project’s strengths? Weaknesses? What are opportunities you can build on? What may be threatening to or risking the best outcomes for the project?

Kris Kirkeby:
From today’s class, you can learn more about Kris Krikeby, Scientific Illustrator, by following the guest presenter’s resource page on our main blog course site. (This will be available soon.)

You can begin an introduction to John Cody, the “Audobon of Moths”, at The Great Plains Nature Center site, http://www.gpnc.org/johncody.htm

For next Tuesday:

 

Please bring your initial course survey outlining your goals for the term, questions about the final project, and thoughts about the course.

We will also discuss the best time for the most class members to be able to enjoy some time at Yogurt Extreme to celebrate your hard work and our time together this term.  This event will happen sometime next Thursday.
Journal 19:
Please make certain to complete Journal 19 regarding how you may apply aspects of ideas and experiences from our guest today to your final professional project.   Due Tuesday.

By Next Thursday:
And, of course, please finalize all aspects of term project (online creative display, final paper, etc.).  Details of your creative display should be finished and fully coalesced and professionalized by Thursday, March 10, 10a.m. as we expect our guests for the show case to arrive by 10:15 that morning.

Please invite friends, colleagues, and relatives to our final showcase highlighting your work during the term.

Any outstanding journal entries, assignments, and achievements not yet completed need to be finalized by Friday of Week 10, March 11, 5p.m.

By Finals Week:
Robert and I have determined that it may be helpful to you to to have a few days extension to fully meet the requirements for Report 5.  To that end, we are extending the deadline for submission of the paper to Monday, March 14, 5p.m.  This should be submitted in person to one of our offices or via email.

During Finals Week:
During our scheduled final exam time, we will have a chance to socialize, play with our puppy, and  enjoy some donuts or other treats.  Details TBD.

As always, please let us know if you have questions with which we can assist.
Julie

Hello, everyone,

A few reminders:

Please get your tickets to see Silent Sky at Oregon Contemporary Theatre as soon as possible.  We don’t want them to be sold out and you miss the opportunity of attending with others in the class.  The majority of us will attend Saturday, March 27.  There are a few planning to get tickets for Thursday, March 25.  Again, with either date, it is important to reserve now.  Remember to see the emails sent out for details about how to get your discounted tickets.

Also, remember that one of your achievements in the class is to complete a response to your experience of the play. This should be fairly simple to achieve for each of you. Look at the separate “event achievement” outline to get a sense for how to meet this goal.
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For those of you generally interested or working on the event achievement, there is a fun talk tomorrow on Buzz Saw Sharks – Catching the Biggest Fish in the Permian Sea

Friday, February 19 at 5:30pm at the Law Center, Room 175
Details: https://calendar.uoregon.edu/event/sharks_past_present_and_future?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=University+of+Oregon

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Next week:
Tuesday — open work session.  Robert and I will be available during our usual class time to meet with you individually or in small groups to discuss your projects, your standing in the class, ways in which you might take your academic path, etc.

Thursday — we will be meeting with design staff from Oregon Contemporary Theatre during our class session. We need to be at the theatre building NO LATER THAN 10:30 that morning. Their address is 174 W Broadway. You need to get down there by that time on your own or meet Julie at the Dad’s Gate EmX bus stop. The EmX leaves at 10:04.

As always, let us know if you have questions.
Julie

Strong class session today, everyone.  It’s great to see where your project ideas are headed and how they are unfolding.  Keep modifying your ideas from today’s worksheet.  Further define the audience, the take home messages, etc. as well as how you will lay out your blog sites making them engaging and interactive. What is the story you want to tell?  How will you tell it? And, to whom?

A few other reminders:
1) Get your tickets for the production of Silent Sky at Oregon Contemporary Theatre (see prior email for how to order)

2) Prepare your introductory searches on green chemistry, life cycle analysis, and the Nike Making app before our guest on Thursday. Details are outlined in a prior blog post as well as an email from this past weekend. This will be an engaging hands-on session.

3) Make certain you have completed your journals for the following:
a) our session with Sierra Dawson,
b) reading response to the packet article by Rau
c) follow-up for how you might apply ideas of data visualization from today’s class session

4) Work on Report 4 and Creative Display 2 (next draft of each) for Week 9.  These should be 3/4 to 7/8 complete by that point.  You will have final, more formal presentations to a public audience the Thursday of Week 10.

5) “Propose your own achievement” proposals are due by the end of this week, Friday. Keep working on your other achievements for the class whether you are excelling at journal writing, as an event specialist, resource librarian or super contributor to class discussions, etc.

6) A reminder that we are reviewing your annotated bibliographies and will have feedback about them for you soon.

Greetings Art Meets Science Lovers!

How GREAT to draw, play with models, hold a real heart, discuss values around, and enact the action of the heart with Sierra Dawson in class today! I hope this helped you better understand intersections between the science behind an object, its aesthetic appeal, and the cultural values and meanings we place upon them.

Some of us feel more comfortable with this:

Others of us are more comfortable with an animated model:

and still others of us love getting as close an approximation as possible:

even the “real” thing:

 

Some of us (like Case) want to know about growing alternative body parts,

possibly like the artist Stelarc’s Ear on Arm Project.

 

Some of us were so inspired by today’s session that we have decided to register for courses in the UO’s Department of Human Physiology or want to know more ways to Dance our Dissertations (or other research).

 

Additionally, Robert and I continue to challenge you to define your project in one word or one short phrase. Why is that the central idea of your project?  And then, if you called your best friend, a parent, a coach, what would you concisely tell them (1-2 minutes) about the project and what it means or how it is relevant to the world today. Or maybe, you consider writing them a one-page letter, email, or short text about the project.  How would you tell them what you are doing and why it matters?

We look forward to reviewing Report 3/Your annotated bibliographies helping define more of the science, art history, and cultural implications of your projects.

 

Assignment Reminders:

Journal 13: What did you learn today from Dr. Dawson?  What did you learn from the stories and examples she shared? How will you apply these ideas to your term project? To your life?  Due by 10a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 16.

Journal 14: Write & Post your reading response for the chapter by Rau (in your course packet). Due by 10a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 16.  Come prepared to work on your term project, particularly your blog sites. Bring computers or other devices for this work.

 

As always, let us know if you have questions about your project, your individual work in the course, going to the theatre event in a few weeks, or anything else related to the class.

 

Best,

Julie