Why sketching matters + some of the many ways we can use sketches in SciArt and SciComm
I recently gave an invited talk/interview for a high school scientific illustration class. It was so much fun to think with them about...
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Blog & Tips
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Sketching Tip: Sketching Techniques Toolkit
Student practicing simplifying a complex image into essential line work (at a Sketching for Scientists workshop I taught at Harvard...
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Canadian Science Publishing interviews me about creative ways of doing science communication and sha
I was invited to serve as the People’s Choice Judge for Canadian Science Publishing*’s 2021 Visualizing Science contest (which you can...
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Article: Using collages & surveys to understand public opinion about managing agricultural lands
Screenshot of article I was fascinated and delighted to join a group of researchers who used art (collages made by community members) to...
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IMPACT project receives UWyo Grand Challenges funding
Screenshot of UWyo press release The University of Wyoming’s Grand Challenges initiative recently announced the winners of the first...
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Article: In the space between: Public information officers in science
This invited article in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment clarifies the role that public information officers play in modern...
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Article: Drawn to Science
This invited commentary in Nature is a pep-talk for science educators considering integrating drawing into their science teaching and...
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Article: Drawn to Natural History: Facilitation advice and classroom examples for instructors integr
This summer, a publication I led was published in the academic journal Natural Sciences Education. Like other resources I’ve shared, this...
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Drawn to Science Communication: Art-Science Synergy as a Career and a Way of Life
I recently gave an invited career talk at the 2020 annual conference of the Ecological Society of America. In case others are interested,...
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Her Flag: Celebrate equality & natural heritage on March 21st
36 states ratified the 19th amendment. 36 female artists designed stripes for Her Flag, a massive flag to commemorate these states. I was...
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Article: Poetry as a Creative Practice to Enhance Engagement and Learning in Conservation Science
This article was such a fun research and writing project. We were working from the foundational question of how to connect scientists to...
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I don’t usually post selfies, but that’s about to change. OR, some things #scientistswho
Me (left) teaching a #sketchingforscientists workshop in Laramie, Wyoming I’ve been thinking a lot about the recent Science op-ed that...
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Book review of “Then There Were None”
Last year, a book I illustrated was published! The book, Then There Were None: The Demise of Desert Bighorn Sheep in the Pusch Ridge...
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Inspiration: Natural history resources and examples to jump-start and inspire you, your students, an
There’s a lot of SciArt out there, as you can see by this Google Image search for the term “#sciart”. A few weeks ago, a friend wrote and...
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Article: Creative convergence: exploring biocultural diversity through art
I had the great honor of collaborating with my friend Dr. Jean Polfus and her Sahtu Dene community collaborators on this publication. In...
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Sketching Tip: Using words for all they are worth
Hares sketched in East Africa – this was the best I ever could do, because they didn’t stick around long enough! (© B.G.Merkle, 2016) Not...
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Artful Science: Learning by drawing
Work in progress: illustration of a Wyoming toad (© B.G. Merkle, 2017) One of my favorite things about being an artist is getting to...
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Sketching Tip: Sketching your notes at conferences, meetings & in class
Notes from a training I did in preparation to volunteer for an amphibian monitoring citizen science project in Wyoming. These tips are...
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Darwin wouldn’t draw. Seriously.
He said so himself. And he regretted it. Exhibit A, from The Autobiography of Charles Darwin: “[Not being urged to practice...
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Sketchbook Snapshot: Mystery Moth
One foggy morning, I found this moth on the back steps of the cabin where I stayed in June (at the UW Research Station in Grand Teton...
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