Local artists find inspiration in area's nature

Dale Morgan has taken her work out of the studio and into the environment, earning a career as an environmental artist.

Morgan is one of the many local artists who focus their work on nature by painting, drawing, or taking photos of the indigenous plants and animals of the area.

Morgan said she always had a passion for art, illustrating her school yearbooks.

“I was really the go-to person in my high school for any kind of artwork,” she said.

After college, Morgan found herself working as an architectural drafter, but she wasn’t happy when computers replaced drawings.

“I missed having a pencil in my hand,” Morgan said. “I missed drawing.”

She turned to the N.C. Botanical Garden in 1999, taking a series of classes that ranged from basic drawing to botany.

“When I graduated, I was like ‘Whoo-hoo! I’m going to be an artist!,’” Morgan said.

She is now the vice president of the local chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. She is currently helping to plan an international conference for the Guild that the Carolinas Chapter will be hosting later this year.

Morgan is also working on a mural of Bolin Creek with another local environmental illustrator, Emily Weinstein.

Weinstein first developed the idea of the mural for the Friends of Bolin Creek Festival, which was rained out.

The two did some work on the mural before the festival and have found a place for it at University Mall, where they will finish and present the mural on April 10 for Earth Action Day.

Weinstein, who says she has been an artist her whole life, also does paintings of people, but her passion is the great outdoors.

“I enjoy helping basic humanity to see the planet and the world around them,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein enjoys plein air art, which is art created by going outside and painting on location.

Chapel Hill resident and environmental artist David Otto uses the lens of his camera to preserve nature.

“I have always enjoyed nature and photography as a means to communicate my passion for the natural treasures which surround us,” Otto said in an e-mail.

His work is concentrated around the Bolin Creek area, where he has lived since 1995. Otto is the vice chairman of the grassroots organization Friends of Bolin Creek whose mission is to preserve the area.

Otto said he enjoys combining his passion for photography and nature to educate.

“I use photography as a tool to communicate my love of nature and the urgent need to preserve the remnants that have not yet been developed in Chapel Hill and Carrboro,” Otto said in an e-mail.



Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.