Scientific illustration is the accurate and often poetic portrayal of any of nature's parts. When sketching, drawing, or painting any form of nature, from its grandest splendors to its most modest elements, one is engaged in an artistic venture that started in the caves of Lascaux and has been continued by the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci and Albrecht Durer. Today, scientific illustration is a vibrant branch of art with almost innumerable applications.

A Jan 2005, a group of artists who love to do just this kind of artwork came together in Ithaca. We call ourselves the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators of the Finger Lakes (GNSI Finger Lakes), a chapter of the national GNSI organization. Our first president was the late Bente Starcke King. Click on Bente to read a memorial article about her. Our current president is Camille Doucet.

Our group of about two-dozen members meets regularly to share artwork, ideas, and expertise in a variety of mediums that range from pencil and watercolor to charcoal dust, silverpoint, and computer illustration. Through discussion of the many professional issues that affect the field of Natural Science art, we encourage high standards of competence and ethics.

In a kind of artistic jam session, we meet in nature to paint together. We explore and create venues for producing and showing work. In our January 2007 exhibit, “The Art of Flora and Fauna”, presented at the Community School of Music and Art in collaboration with Ithaca's annual “Light in Winter Festival” we shared our love of this art form with the public. The natural science subjects we have covered to date include mammals, insects, birds, botanicals, trees, and medical illustration, but the subject matter available is virtually without limit.

We meet monthly at different members' studios as well as at the Community School of Music and Art, and we welcome new members. If you would like more information, contact Camille Doucet at 607-272-8781 or Lynn Usack at 607-598-2852 (or via email address listed below). To view Bente's memorial, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, free from Adobe at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html