Lara Call Gastinger

is an artist and botanical illustrator from Charlottesville, Virginia. Currently, she is the chief illustrator for the Flora of Virginia Project. The subjects of her art come from the natural world and her art reveals detailed evidence of change, decay, and processes that occur in nature. She finds great inspiration in a carrot that has gone to flower, a broken seed pod, twisted roots or insect damage to a leaf. She strives to make a plant portrait in such a way that it reveals its character and uniqueness. Her focus is on the small details in nature, down to the small venations in leaves which hopefully inspires others to look a bit deeper and pause a bit longer.

Lara's Resume

Education

• Virginia Tech. Master’s Degree in Plant Ecology– awarded May 2002. GPA: 4.0
• University of Virginia. Bachelor of Arts in Biology, Architecture minor - awarded May 1998. GPA: 3.3
• Rhode Island School of Design. Summer 1997. Field Ecology and Drawing Program.
• Cornell/University of New Hampshire Shoal’s Marine Program. Summer 1996. Biological Illustration.

Professional experience

• Botanical Illustrator for The Flora of Virginia Project. Fall 2002 - current
• Dr. Shirley Sherwood Botanical Master Painting Class student - Keswick, VA, April 18-23, 2004.

Exhibits

• Ursus Books and Prints, Today's Botanical Artists, New York, NY, June 9 - August 2 2008.
• Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden, Flora of Virginia Illustrations. Richmond, VA, October 2007.
• Angelo Jewelry Petal and Pod, Charlottesville VA, September - October 2007.
• Royal Horticultural Society Garden Show. Gold Medalist, Westminister, UK, February 2007.
• McGuffey Holiday Show. Charlottesville, VA, December 2006.
• Horticultural Society of New York 9th Annual Botanical Art Show. New York, NY, September-November 2006.
• Ursus Books and Prints. New York, NY, February 2006.
• Norfolk Botanic Garden. Norfolk, VA, February 2006.
• McGuffey Holiday Show. Charlottesville, VA, December 2005.
• McGuffey Solo Art Show. Order and Character, Charlottesville, VA, March 2005.
• GNSI 2004 Annual Exhibit. Williamsburg, VA July 4-10, 2004.
• McGuffey Anuual Summer Group Member Show. Charlottesville, VA, July 2004.
• New Dominion Book Shop. Charlottesville, VA. Fall 1999.

Teaching

• William Cox Inn. Stanardsville VA, November and May weekend workshops, 2007 - current.
• Norfolk Botanic Garden Painting Class. Norfolk, Spring 2006.
• Flower Camp Botanical Art Instructor. Weekend retreat in Buckingham Co, Spring and Fall workshops 2005 - current.
• Field Studies Institute Botanical Painting and Sketching Class instructor. The Wintergreen Nature Foundation, Fall 2002 – current.
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute Graduate Teaching Assistant. Biology Lab instructor, Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Fall 2001.
• National Wildlife Federation Summit Faculty Member. Botanical Field Sketching, Summer 2001.

Organizations

• American Society of Botanical Artists. Spring 2004 – current.
• McGuffey Art Center Associate Member. Spring 2004 - current.
• Virginia Native Plant Society, Jefferson Chapter member, Spring 2003 – current.
• Guild of Natural Science Illustrator Member (GNSI). Spring 2003 – Spring 2005.
• Utah State University. Logan, Utah. Developed a GIS map of plant distributions and illustrated poster of endemic plant species, Summer 1999.
• Susan Nelson Warren Byrd Landscape Architects. Charlottesville, Virginia. computer graphics, marketing, Draftsperson, Plant research, 1998-1999, 1999-2000.

Organizations/Community Involvement

• Election poll worker. Charlottesville, VA, Fall 2002 - 2006.
• Ivy Creek Natural Area Guide. lead nature tours for schoolchildren - Charlottesville, VA, Fall 2002 - 2006.
• Kew Botanic Garden Millennium Seed Bank Project seed collector. Summer 2004.