“One must draw to think and communicate more fully; the artist and the scientist share this challenge to a remarkable degree.”
So begins an exhibit titled “Natural History Illustrations: Union's Examples from the Past and Present” on display through Jan. 2 in the
Arts Atrium.
The show contains a number of works by the two dozen students enrolled
in the Illustrated Organism (Art/Bio 45), taught this term by biologist Carl George and
artists Sandy Wimer and Walter Hatke. Along with student drawings of birds, fish,
salamanders, leopards, mammalian skulls and leaves are those by such notables as Audubon,
Alexander Wilson and Bente Starke King.
The drawings in the exhibit – by students and masters alike —
are striking in their attention to the rich detail of the biological specimens. The course
is devoted to the idea that graphic representation is a powerful concept and integrative
instrument.
“A great artist is very much a scientist in her or his search for
truth and documentation; the great scientist engages in much which is art,” according
to the exhibit text.