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As part of the Sunshine Committee’s Mission In 2024-25 we are going to show recognition for the contribution by one or more docents each month with a write-up in the Palette Newsletter. The purpose is to share achievements, challenges and any tips for future participation by docents.
For the month of September, we want to highlight the commitment shown by Cindy Lee and Izzy Delling, with the Scientific Illustration workshops in September 2024 by taking on their first Scientific Workshop! Thank you to Sue Ward, John Brady, Ros Edmonds, Michelle Kuntzmann along with Cindy and Izzy who collectively taught 30 classes! We also want to recognize and thank all the Docents who assisted in these workshops - Tim Nauss, Jennifer Kretschmer, Yoony Chang and Sharon Kuntzmann . Their contribution around the classroom assisting students is critical to the success of the final products the students create.
Cindy thoroughly enjoyed the workshops because its more than artwork. She commented that “ the students enjoyed the workshop because it's more than just artwork, it's a tool that helps them better understand and visualize the scientific world. They got a kick out of having real specimens to look at. Picking a bug, I'd say was probably their favorite and hardest decision of the whole thing! It piqued their interest when we covered how scientific illustration could be a career and can be found in a lot of different fields like Biotech/Medical, Publishers, Government Agencies (Nasa) and more”.
Pro Tip from Cindy - Everything was a breeze because you really can't go wrong going step by step following the study guide. Spend the appropriate amount of time sketching/mapping out the size of the specimen with the students, it really helps set the foundation of their illustration so it's not too big where they run out of space or too small that they aren't able to add fine details.
Pro Tip from Izzy - I absolutely agree with Cindy that taking time with the initial sketch is the key to a good drawing. To enlarge a subject is quite hard so it’s a good thing we practice that twice (first with the spider in the prep class, then with the bug before the final drawing). For the spider drawing I didn’t use the video but a photo of a spider that I projected, which also worked out. Instead of the beetle I chose a bug from the specimens to demonstrate the process from sketch to detail. All students were excited about those specimens and they loved to choose and study with the magnifying glass. Some of the drawings were quite remarkable and a few students even chose to further work on them. The time given was adequate even though not everyone could finish.
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