This body of work was created in 2017 for my very first solo art exhibition, titled INOPIA, hosted by the Natural Heritage Project in Wisconsin. I was asked to create an exhibit centered on the list of 2000+ species nearing extinction in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

I focused on the beauty of these species and rotated between depicting them fully and allowing them to disappear from the page. In the title work, INOPIA (6ftx4ft) I discuss the interconnectivity of species to one another. All species depicted will likely become extinct if only one of them becomes extinct. Ecosystems are wildly interconnected to one another.

INOPIA (Pen + Marker Animal Illustrations) - image 1 - student project INOPIA 6ft x 4ft | 2017 | pen +marker on paper | Photo by Dane Pedersen

INOPIA (Pen + Marker Animal Illustrations) - image 2 - student project

Woodland Caribou 5ft x 4ft | 2017 | pen + marker on paper | Photo by Dane Pedersen

INOPIA (Pen + Marker Animal Illustrations) - image 3 - student project Seven Sparrows 22 x 30 | 2017 | pen + marker on paper | photo by Dane Pedersen

INOPIA (Pen + Marker Animal Illustrations) - image 4 - student project Pile of Mice 22x30 | 2017 | pen + marker on paper | photo by Dane Pedersen

INOPIA (Pen + Marker Animal Illustrations) - image 5 - student project Grey Wolves 22x30 | 2017 | pen + marker on paper | photo by Dane Pedersen

INOPIA (Pen + Marker Animal Illustrations) - image 6 - student project 2000 Caddisflies (2000 individually hand drawn caddisflies on pen on 2x3 paper to represent the number of types of species facing extinction Wisconsin) | 2017 | pen on paper installation | photo by Dane Pedersen

Sarah Nelson

Artist and Illustrator

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