translating.
art and opinions from Meredith Willmott
Rachel Carson wrote that “no one can write truthfully about the mountains without poetry”. Steinbeck wrote of Ed Ricketts that he loved nature because “he loved true things”.
I feel a responsibility to translation: translating ant behavior into numerous scattered data points, translating my own inherent sense of truth into meaningful research. and of course- translating the complexities of the natural systems that I love into art that can bring others in.
We make sense of the natural world- and of truth- through art. I am lucky to be sharing some of mine with you.
Ecotone: the region of transition between two biological communities
Why leafhoppers?
Because when I was 19 I drew some Candy Striped Leafhoppers (Graphocephala coccinea) on a card for my Entomology Professor Dr. Forkner, and she liked them so much she encouraged me to pursue scientific illustration professionally.
It is thanks to her (and the leafhoppers!) that I am here, and I like to think this logo can be an homage to the enormous influence she has had on my life and career.
Hoppers remain one of my favorite things to paint. And research. And collect.
Scientific illustration is the ecotone between art and science
Ants nesting in the domatia of an acacia. In return for shelter, the ants protect their hosts from herbivory and parasitism
Ophiocordyceps protrudes from the base of an infected ant’s head
The mutualism between wooly bats and pitcher plants: bats roost inside the plant, in return they provide the plant with nutrients in the form of droppings
My love for science began with prolonged exposure to scientific art. My love for art has continued with prolonged exposure to the natural world.
Field sketches from another ecotone: the saltwater marshes of coastal New Jersey on a windy April morning.
ABQ New Mexico: my first field season as a graduate student, and the basis for my desert focus moving forwards in my career.
I grew up homeschooled, and one of the weekly assignments my co-op had was to write a few short sentences about a Mark Trail comic. Those were always my favorite assignments (I would fight to the death to pick the strips featuring wolves), and now that fascination has come full circle with the introduction of a new weekly comic strip “Leafhopping”- a roundabout way of sharing a bunch of cool entomology facts and illustrations.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge how profoundly growing up in the humid beauty of Virginia has cultivated my love for nature. Weekly trips to Great Falls National Park, excursions up to the Chesapeake Bay to hunt fossils (and be hunted by biting flies), and the warm gurgle of small creeks that wind their way through most neighborhoods. Hercules beetles. Eating a popsicle on my front stoop in August, tiny black ants clustering around drops of melted mango. Dew encrusted spider webs stretching gossamer over the delicate tips of new grass.
Virginia IS for lovers after all.
shop prints
and stickers. and knitting patterns.
