Instructors
Cindy Gilbane is a local artist who has worked in the area and painted extensively from local beaches, woods and countrysides for a very long time. She taught art for 15 years art in the West Haven Public School system at all grade levels. After leaving the school system she opened her own studio and teaches there and other local venues. Cindy is a Connecticut certified art teacher with a Masters degree in art and science from Wesleyan University. She is an active member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Greater New York Chapter with whom she exhibits annually. She exhibits many of her watercolors at KCK Gallery in West Haven, CT. Visit her website at www.ArtbyGilbane.com for a look at her work.
Susannah Graedel is a natural science illustrator and educator. She studied zoology at the University of Michigan, earned a master's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from Rutgers University and earned her certificate in botanical illustration from the New York Botanical Garden. She was employed by the New Jersey Audubon Society as an environmental educator for fifteen years prior to moving to Connecticut in 1997. Since then she has been employed as an instructor in environmental education and natural science illustration by the Town of Madison's Beach and Recreation Department.
Susannah Graedel portrays natural science subjects in graphite, ink and color. Her artistic career is an extension of a life spent learning about the natural world and sharing her knowledge and excitement as an environmental educator in New Jersey and Connecticut. Her accurate and aesthetic portrayals of animals and plants have been exhibited in juried art shows throughout the northeast. Contact her at graedelbirdsong@comcast.net for any questions or more information.
Dorie is an accomplished painter and natural science illustrator and teacher. She began her study of Fine Arts at the Arts Students League in New York City and the Brackman Studios in Madison, Connecticut. She received her BFA in Painting from Wagner College in Staten Island, New York and her MA in Art Education from Southern CT State University in New Haven, CT. In 2007, she received her Certificate in Botanical and Natural Science Illustration from The New York Botanical Garden. She lectures and teaches drawing and painting from nature in schools, art, and Audubon centers in CT, NY, Maine and Florida. Dorie is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships for her work, most recently being the Don Eckelberry Fellowship Award for Wildlife Painting from The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Dorie exhibits her paintings and drawings through galleries and commissions nationally. Her interest in travel and painting birds is a lifelong passion. She has volunteered at the YalePeabody Museum Vertebrate Zoology Division, for the past ten years, where she frequently exhibits and uses their museum specimens as reference for her work.She currently serves as membership chairman of the New York Chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and president of the CT Natural Science Illustrators,LLC .To contact Dorie for more information: www.doriepetrochko.com or email: dpetrochko@earthlink.net
Following a 15-year business career at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC and AT&T in New Haven, CT, Jan Prentice began the serious study of art. She earned a certificate in Botanical Illustration in 2005 from the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NY after attending the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and Paier College of Art. In 2010 she was awarded an artist's residency in the COM.EN.ART program specializing in natural science art at the Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, NY. Also in 2010 she contributed artwork to Kerry Tribe's exhibit related to questions of personal and historical memory at the Arnolfini Centre of Contemporary Art in Bristol, England. Specifically, she was asked to illustrate the butterfly Parnassius Mnemosyne from memory after watching an 16-second film clip.
Jan is represented by Maple and Main Fine Art Gallery in Chester, CT. She has exhibited her work at the New Britain Museum of American Art, John Slade Ely House, New Haven, Yale Environmental Science Center, Lyme Art Association, University of Connecticut, Fairfield University, and many other regional venues. She is a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, the American Society of Botanical Artists, and an associate artist member of the Lyme Art Association. For the past five years, she has volunteered at the Herbarium at the Peabody Museum. Visit her website at www.PrenticeStudio.com or email PrenticeStudio@gmail.com
Drawing and painting have been Linda’s lifelong passion and the focus of her education. She received her B.A. from Pitzer College in Claremont, California and has studied art as a special student at Yale University. Her work has been exhibited widely. She has illustrated two books of poetry: Windowsills by Bert Meyers and Restless Motion by Joan Egeland-Scott. She also illustrated The Big House, a memoir by Elise Knapp, which is in the final stages of design layout.
During 2004-2005, Linda was part of the Yale science-art research team that sculpted and cast the life-size Torosaurus bronze sculpture that stands in front of the Peabody Museum. She currently volunteers in the museum’s Discovery Room. Visit her website at www.lindaandersonmiller.com or contact her at lindaamiller@snet.net
