Meet Megan Gnekow | Scientific Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Megan Gnekow and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve been making art since I was a kid and I come from a long line of artists. So I definitely had a lot of encouragement to be creative when I was young. What I didn’t get was very much information about how to sustain that as a central part of my life. Every artist I knew had some sort of other job to make ends meet. Still, art continued to be an important part of my life as I worked my way through school and out into the world. But it wasn’t until I completed my degree in Scientific Illustration in 2009 that I felt like I knew what I wanted to do with my work. Even then, it took me about 8 years to really figure that out. And now, making art and sharing it with the world just feels like what I am supposed to be doing.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My work primarily focuses on relationships between organisms in their environment – whether via the food web or because they share habitat or their existence is connected to each other in some other way. I work primarily on paper with ink and watercolor and the compositions take the form of a kaleidoscope – with some organisms repeating in symmetrical patterns while others may form a more organic, wreath-like frame around the others.

Right now, the most exciting and challenging thing I am working on is a book. My art will be paired with essays (which I am also writing!) about the importance of landscape-level conservation to protect special status (threatened, endangered, etc.) species in the greater San Francisco Bay Area region. This is my home turf and it’s really fun to dig into the amazing array of stories to tell about this incredibly rich, biodiverse region. While a lot of people know this area for the tech industry and the cultural centers of San Francisco and Oakland, I know it as a place of banana slugs and salamanders, redwoods and oaks. So I’m really excited to be working on a project that helps highlight some of those creatures.

I think there are a couple things that set my work apart. First, I have a unique approach to depicting organisms that have intimate relationships with each other. Instead of trying to recreate a ‘realistic’ scene where each species is present, I focus on highlighting how species that might be most familiar have intimate ties to many other organisms that often go unnoticed. Also, like many scientific illustrators, my work is driven by the science. At least half of the time it takes me to develop a single piece of artwork is spent in research. I want to make sure I get the relationships and organisms right. But I also want to make sure that there is some playfulness and delight in the pieces I create. So I make choices informed both by the science but also the aesthetics – color, shape, visual weight.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Ooh, this is a tough question. I live in a VERY rural part of California.

But if someone was to come visit for a week, the first place I take them is to Pinnacles National Park. The first day of hiking must include the High Peaks trail and I’d hope to time it so we could go through the entirety of Bear Gulch Cave. The second day of hiking might include either the Balconies Loop (including the Balconies Cave) or the hike up to North Chalone Peak, depending on how adventurous someone is. Both of those hikes must include a picnic lunch along the trail.

Day three and four might include a trip out to the coast to visit the tidepools along the Monterey Bay. We can hike in Garrapata or Pfeiffer Big Sur State Parks along the Big Sur coast and drive down Highway One to see if we can see migrating whales and California Condors on the same day (it can be done!). When I’m in that area, a stop at Happy Girl Kitchen in Pacific Grove is a must. They have my favorite brunch items and delicious pickles.

After that, I think a hot tub soak is in order and there are lots of places to choose from in Big Sur, Carmel Valley, and Santa Cruz. On the way home, we absolutely MUST stop at a little restaurant in Salinas called Culturas de Hidalgo y Oaxaca. Authentic southern Mexican food that is absolutely incredible!

The last few days might include a drive out to see Tule Elk near San Luis Reservoir or in Priest Valley or at Henry Coe State Park. And I love to take folks to the Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve to see how important it is to maintain greenspace so that animals can move back and forth between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Scientific Illustration program at UC Santa Cruz (now at CSU Monterey Bay) changed my life. Not only the incredible instructors, but also my classmates and fellow alumni. We have an incredible network of connections and I continue to learn so much from this group as the network expands. My time in the program changed my life in SO many ways – all for the best.

I also had the exceptionally good fortune to be a Bartels Science Illustration intern at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. While I was there, I painted a guide to hummingbirds of North America for their Feederwatch Program. I was surrounded by ornithologists, designers, and researchers who not only provided invaluable feedback on my work – they also helped nurture my confidence and curiosity. I would absolutely not be where I am today without that experience.

I also have to send a shoutout to my publisher, Heyday Books. Their trust and investment in my work has helped propel me into a new chapter in my life and I could not be more grateful for their suppport.

Website: www.sevenravensstudio.com

Instagram: @seven_ravens_studio