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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Blog & Tips
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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: 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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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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Scientists’ SciArt featured by The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA)
Front page article in The Times-Picayune features hand-drawn #SketchYourScience sketches by ecologists, quotes me encouraging folks to...
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Laramie Boomerang covers dedication of downtown mural
In spring 2017, I was one of 13 artists commissioned by the Laramie Mural Project to design and paint a component of the expansion of the...
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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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Gillette News Record picks up press release about grad students’ interpretations of local mura
In Autumn 2017, I led a co-taught graduate seminar course called “The Art of Science Communication.” The first project we assigned to the...
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Missoulian covers “Drawn to Science Communication” plenary
Click here to read the article, behind a paywall. #workshop #scicommadvice #sciart #scicommbyscientists #Mediacoverage #visualscicomm
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Inspiration: Natural history resources and examples to jump-start and inspire
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: Insects
A draft illustration that didn’t ultimately wind up in the final image (©BGMerkle, 2016) It’s still summer where I live (though not for...
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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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SciArt illustration contracts for your science communication project (Using Images-A Best Practices
This article is the fifth in a series aimed at helping you enhance your #scicommand #sciart by avoiding #visualplagiarism. It will do so...
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Getting the most out of working with an illustrator for your science communication project (Using Im
This article is the fourth in a series aimed at helping you enhance your #scicommand #sciart by avoiding #visualplagiarism. It will do so...
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April 2017 CommNatural Newsletter: Migration, multimedia sketching & more
Click image to view full newsletter. Happy April, dear readers! The weather is getting warmer and warmer. In addition to obvious shifts...
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Sketching Tip: Solvent Transfers
Reproducing or presenting an image in an artistic way can help you catch the attention of a wider or different-from-usual audience. One...
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