Joslyn Doerge
Scientific Illustrator and Fine Artist
EDUCATION
2002-2006: Bachelors of Fine Arts – The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (Scientific Illustration, minor in Philosophy)
2006: Scientific Illustration, Residency Field Museum of Chicago
2005-2006: Scientific Illustration Residency, Study Abroad Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Advanced Painting Program)
APPRENTICESHIPS/ AWARDS/ SHOWS
2026: Aspen Art Week: Live Art at Christie’s (Featured Artist), Aspen, Colorado
2025: Art Basel, Aqua, (Featured Artist), Miami FL, Penthouse Gallery (SHIM Art
Network)
• Casa Lienzo/ Mexico City/Solo Artist in Residence
• Art Gotham NYC/Nature Art Now/ Group Exhibition
•Art Basel Miami/Aqua/Shim Art Network/Featured Artist
2024: Kolbermore Academy of Fine Art Germany/Artist Residency
• Palazzo Pisani-Revedin Di Venezia/The 2024 Venice Biennale/Group Exhibition
2023: Art Basel Miami/Aqua/Shim Art Network/Group Exhibition
2021: Jill Krutick Fine Art Mamaroneck NY/Waiting to Exhale/Group Show
2020: Jimmy’s Aspen/Upper Gallery/Meat Ms. Monroe/Solo Show
2016-2018: Snowmass Village Mall/Pre-Fall Art/Group Show
2011: Harold Arts /Double Summer Residency
2011: Redmoon Theater Company Build/Welding Shop Apprenticeship
2010: Mission Comics, San Francisco/Meat Market/Solo Show
• Telluride Mountain Film Festival/Solo Show at Strong House Gallery/Solo Show
2009: Studio Frank/Works Created in Telluride/Solo Show
2006: School of the Art Institute of Chicago/Best of Show G2 Gallery Installation
2005-2006: Field Museum of Chicago/Scientific Illustration Residency
A WORD FROM THE ARTIST 2026
My work explores the systems and structures that exist beneath familiar surfaces—within the body, the natural world, and the images we use to understand ourselves.
I work across cyanotype, carving, gold leaf, pyrography, watercolor, mineral, and mixed media, allowing each material to become part of the conceptual language of the work. Anatomy, botanical forms, portraiture, fractal pattern, and natural systems recur throughout my practice as ways of examining connection, perception, identity, and transformation.
As a dyslexic artist, I have always understood the world visually and searched for patterns and alternative ways of communicating. That perspective has shaped my interest in scientific illustration and in structures that repeat across different scales—from vascular and muscular systems to plants, marine organisms, ecosystems, and larger cosmic relationships.
My newest body of work, Stardust, extends this investigation through light. Using cyanotype, carved wood, and gold leaf, I explore light as a system of communication and adaptation: something that carries information, shapes living systems, influences perception, and connects the human body to the natural world and the larger universe.
Across the work, I am interested in what becomes visible when familiar forms are taken apart, examined more closely, or seen from another perspective. Whether working with anatomy, portraiture, botanical structures, or light, I return to the same question: what hidden relationships connect us to one another and to the world around us?
A WORD FROM THE ARTIST 2024
“As a dyslexic artist, I have found that the best way to express myself is through the use of images. My primary method of self expression is pyrography – Latin for writing with fire. Since my showing at Art Basel Miami, I’ve immersed myself in the exploration of neurology and fractals. I’m captivated by the profound presence fractals have in both nature and the human form. Plants manifest fractals outwardly while human embody fractals internally. This juxtaposition of nature and the human body is a concept I hope to explore through the botanical organ illustrations I have created during my residency at The Academy of Fine Arts in Kolbermoor Germany and plan to bring to the 2024 Biennale in Venice.”
A WORD FROM THE ARTIST 2022
“I have spent a number of years examining the ways in which attractiveness and sexuality are valued by the observer. To that end, I seized upon the iconographic potency of the pop culture “pin-up girl.” In this case the subject is Marilyn Monroe’s final sitting before her untimely death. By applying my abilities as a scientific illustrator, I have found: a new way of exploring the themes of beauty, the value our society places on outer beauty and its temporary nature. Often when we look at the person, we see only their surface qualities and neglect to question what underlies their skin-deep beauty. My aim is to take that investigation one step further. By removing the flesh to reveal the meat is the means through which I hope to give the model back her humanity. Through this investigation, we are literally peeling back the façade of beauty and peering underneath. The removal of the flesh reminds us that we are all, under the surface, made of meat. Although sensual, there is a sense of power that these iconic final images seem to have. Reminding the audience that we are all the same underneath, we cease to objectify the model and delve into her psyche. In this case there seems to be a personal acceptance of her own physical form that is the source of her empowerment. It is through that empowered lens that the models’ gaze is then turned back on the viewer. Reminding us of our own fragility.”
-Joz D.
THE ARTISTIC PROCESS
This series is one of wood burnings. I use many different kinds of wood. I also use crushed mineral and acrylic medium. I chose wood because its it mimics the movement of muscle tissue. This series is about stripping down to the most natural state and what is more natural than wood? I chose the crushed mineral which I apply in layers with the acrylic medium. I do this to get different effects as the light hits the piece throughout the day. In this sense the piece is ever changing as we are ever changing. I hope to use the changing of the piece as a subtle reflection of the passage of time.
Joz D 