Art and science overlap for nature illustrators

Every year, the Bartels Science Illustration Program hosts an artist-in-residence who creates art and infographics to accompany scientific publications and for the Cornell Lab’s outreach activities, building their portfolios and connections with people in the scientific community.
“It’s been a really nice combination of all the different things I’ve been interested in for so long: graphic design, science, illustration, birds,” Ditner said. “It all has come together really beautifully in this current role for me, especially mentoring artists, being involved with those learning about science illustration and developing their own career.”
From a sunny workspace overlooking Sapsucker Woods Pond at the Cornell Lab, this year’s Bartels illustrator, Lauren Richelieu, painted cardinals in watercolor and gouache that graced the Lab of Ornithology’s 2024 holiday card. She had recently completed illustrations for a paper on sea bird guano and another about frogs.
“I’ve always been very into birds and science,” she said. “Jillian knows so much and is able to point out things that I didn’t necessarily notice. I feel my eyes being trained a little bit more.”
In the spring semester, Richelieu will join Ditner and Irby Lovette, professor of ornithology, to teach the undergraduate course Art and Science of Birds, in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The class is open to any student interested in birds and art, even if they don’t consider themselves artists. It typically has a long wait list.
Brant Georgia ’26, a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, took the Art and Science of Birds course in 2024 and is now a student assistant cataloguing the Lab of Ornithology’s historic art collection.
He’s accepted commissions for paintings of birds and sold his work at art fairs. During winter break he was working on an oil painting for an ornithological organization in Michigan, his home state.
“What I really got out of this class was the ability to depict birds more accurately and more anatomically correct,” he said.
That has helped him depict bird behaviors in his paintings. “Since I have an understanding of the anatomy of a bird, I can put that bird in whatever position I want it to be in,” he said.
Before meeting Ditner, Georgia expected to pursue science as a career and art as a hobby. Now he sees a future in science illustration.
“She’s really been sort of a guiding light for me in this career path,” he said.
link