This piece was featured as an Editor’s Pick on Discover WordPress June 30, 2016.
I began my first field journal in Belize, during my time there for biology field school. Each evening after night walks I would jot down a list of the day’s seen species under the fluorescent hum of generator lights. Flipping through the spiral-bound notebook now a decade later, I wish I hadn’t been so rigid in my musings, so clinical in my descriptions of those treasurable weeks in a new place. Now and then memories surface – hiking up trails in Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve; huddling close to campfires pitched by the Sibun River after a day of canoeing; swaying in a hammock and looking out at the sunset while listening to someone strumming the guitar. These happenings now slip through my mesh of English and Latin names, scrawled neat on ruled lines. I wish I did a better job at capturing moments. I wish I could go back.
***
Maybe regret is why I so admire those skilled at conveying the essence of the moment. I’ve highlighted works from these authors and explorers before, from Oliver Sacks’ Oaxaca Journal to John Steinbeck’s The Log From the Sea of Cortez. This week I want to do justice to Lyn Baldwin, another deft at telling stories of presence and place. I first came across the field ecologist’s work through her exhibition, Finding Place: Collecting Home Through Field Journal Art, while volunteering at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Captivated, I next read her essay, Laura’s Collection: Finding Community Through Field Work, in Terrain, one of my favourite publications. Now with her permission, I would like to share my thoughts on her illustrated field journals here on Ekostories.
Finding Place: Collecting Home Through Field Journal Art
“Finding Place explores the intersection of art and science through detailed botanical field journals and paintings. Plant ecologist and artist, Lyn Baldwin, captures her home province of British Columbia in great detail while searching for what it means to belong to a place and find stories of home.”
Volunteering at the Beaty museum on a weekly basis affords me the chance to see Baldwin’s illustrated field journals over an extended period of time. Each displayed shadowbox features excerpts and artefacts from her journals, which contain everything from brief botanical sketches to detailed watercolour compositions. I can find few words to describe Baldwin’s work without resorting to clichés; her skill in capturing both natural aesthetic and anatomical accuracy awes me whenever I return to view her work:
In an accompanying guide on field journal illustration, Baldwin describes the act of drawing as a powerful means to know something on an intimate level, whether it be a single flower or an entire landscape. In an increasingly disconnected and attention-deficient world, sketching the veins on a leaf or the mountains out the living room window can help ground us in place and time, train our gaze towards the ordinary beauty we would otherwise skim over. While her finished illustrations are stunning, Baldwin stresses the importance of process over product. “Regardless of what the final drawing looks like,” she writes, “I always see more when I draw.”
Drawing also helps Baldwin find the right words to describe what she sees:
“Wolves at 6:00am. From the tent fly five wolves coloured black prancing and wrestling on the sand in front of Anderson Creek mouth. Once again, the feeling that I have been gifted with something wild and precious rises up, rises up. The world is alive and I am caught within its own wonderful grip. It is a remembrance of another time, when we hadn’t domesticated ourselves, when the glory and the pain and the deep splendour of a breathing world filled our days.”
– Mounted Field Journal Volumes with Artefacts: Wells Gray Lakes Vol. 1, 3
There is a raw urgency in Baldwin’s recorded musings that moves me. They ring true because they are formed from the heart of the present, as life is streaming by, and I can see how joy, emergent and unaccountable, wells up and out onto the page. To articulate these instants of splendour as Baldwin does, to reach with language to describe what lies just beyond past comprehension, is something I aspire to do. I know now that these are the shards and shimmers that stay with our minds and hearts, reminders of what was once luminous in a world marching ever forward, precious mortal glimpses that endure even as all else changes, fades away.
Laura’s Collection: Finding Community Through Field Work
In her Terrain essay, Baldwin delves into her experience conducting fieldwork with a promising student in the Lac du Bois Grasslands of Kamloops in my home province. Working at the ecotone of art and science, she argues that while understanding from any discipline or practice is always at best an act of translation, we can strive to build a fuller picture by embracing multiple paths to knowledge and different ways of knowing. Her approach reminds me of the writings of Leonard Shlain, a surgeon who wrote about his profession’s need to utilize both left-brain logic and right-brain intuition:
“[Through] the complementarity of art and physics … these two fields intimately entwine to form a lattice upon which we all can climb a little higher in order to construct our view of reality. Understanding this connection should enhance our appreciation for the vitality of art and deepen our sense of awe before the ideas of modern physics. Art and physics, like wave and particle, are an integrated duality: They are simply two different but complementary facets of a single description of the world. Integrating art and physics will kindle a more synthesized awareness which begins in wonder and ends with wisdom.”
Baldwin writes about her hopes for Laura as an ecologist, the comfort inherent in the rhythms of good field work, the challenges of putting down roots in a new place. She delves into the traditions and conventions of ecology, the limitations and biases of her chosen field, even the guilt of collection for the sake of understanding. Throughout the piece, she continually turns over the notion of community, trying to see its different facets, much like what she does in her field journals, using words and drawings to weave connective tissue between fact and feeling, self and world, personal and collective good.
For me, the piece speaks deeply of our universal yearning to belong: How one seeks communion with others and with place, what those connections demand of and afford to us, and how history and context perpetually shape the perceptions of our ties with the larger world. I appreciate Baldwin’s willingness to face her own uncertainties, her ability to embrace contradiction and complexity as a necessary step towards cultivating a deeper and broader relationship with the world.
***
I keep a daily journal these days, a Hobonichi Techo, designed by my favourite renaissance man Shigesato Itoi. It’s still filled with too many lists: Grocery items and tasked to-do’s, work deadlines and daily meals. But sometimes I try. Sometimes scribbled down are small gratitudes. A perfect food moment spent with a rice bowl, dotted with fish roe. The chance to stare a Harris hawk straight in the eye. Sometimes a writing prompt expands out to fill a page. Two. Five. Lyrics to a new song from 1971 that makes the day right. And no one’s gonna take that time away. Now and then at the museum, ink sketches in brown or blue of an antelope, a seal skull, a fossilized ray. Outside, the silhouettes of birds. Bright the hawk’s flight on the empty sky. Wings, shapes, shades. Not forgotten.
Related Ekostories
- Art and Science, Wonder and Wisdom
- More than Ferns: Oliver Sacks’ Oaxaca Journal
- Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World
Featured image: Grassland Green View of Lac Du Bois Grassland, Kamloops, BC. All images posted with permission from Lyn Baldwin.
Ekostories 
Another one of your thoughtful posts that remind me to connect with my moments, whether it be in the form of writing, photography, reading, listening. Recently, I have added poetry recitation. Even if I am the audience of one, speaking words aloud give added power to the words.
Poetry is a great way to record the moment without the need to shape words that come out. I find that it rings closer to truth than just about anything.
Thank you so much. I almost felt like I was out there with Baldwin watching the wild wolves early in the morning. Write on…..
Muriel Kauffmann
If you’re ever out in UBC, the exhibition is lovely to check out!
Thank you so much for this post. I love when you remind us that in this “disconnected and attention-deficient world, sketching the veins on a leaf …can help ground us in place and time, train our gaze towards the ordinary beauty we would otherwise skim over” This is what I aim to do with my art but it is easy to forget our purpose when deadlines and outside demands try to take over your life. Thanks for the reminder, love this post
Definitely easy to get lost in the shuffle of daily tasks, though I find that writing helps me sort out my priorities 🙂 Glad this resonated with you!
Hello Isaac, thanks for a lovely post, and a timely introduction to Lyn Baldwin’s work. A lot of what you and Lyn express through this article resonates with me, as I am also an ecologist playing in the art/science interface.
I’d also like to encourage more people to keep a field journal (I call it a nature journal, but same thing, really) and I’m about to launch a little free ebook from my website called ‘Make a Date with Nature: an introduction to nature journaling’. So please check it out if you’re interested, and spread the word. I’ve also started conducting nature journaling workshops here in Australia.
The more that people slow down and immerse themselves in nature, with an alert attentiveness, the better for humanity and the world. Drawing and writing in a nature journal can certainly help with this.
Cheers, Paula
Hi Paula,
Great to hear that you’re also working at that ecotone (ha) I’ll definitely check out your nature journaling guide. Thanks for reading!
Hi Isaac, If you’d like to download a free ecopy of ‘Make a Date with Nature’ go to http://www.paperbarkwriter.com/want-to-get-started-with-nature-journaling-this-little-guidebook-will-show-you-how/
I’d be interested to hear what you think!
Cheers
Paula
Oh this looks great – Thank you for sharing this. I’m definitely trying to get into sketching a little bit 🙂
Reblogged this on The Craft of Writing and commented:
This is a beautiful article, I can not give it more than five stars, but i wish I could give it more. In an age of instant communication, we need to focus more in the places where we live, love nature, do everything we can to reduce pollution.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Reblogged this on ultimate support guy.
Thank you for sharing this, there is a beautiful delicacy to her work and I love what she says about process being more important than product. Eco journaling was a brief hobby of mine as a child inspired by ‘A Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady'(!) To me there is something indescribably beguiling in the intersection of words and images!
Pictures miss the metaphors language can bring, while images can convey elements that cannot be described by words. Together they seem to bring about a richer description of the world.
Pingback: Seeing More: A Scientist’s Field Journal | Art, Spirit, Nature
Reblogged this on Deep Maps : West Cork Coastal Cultures and commented:
A very interesting piece by Isaac Yuen on the field journals of Lynn Baldwin.
I’ve reblogged you here:
https://patrisearts.com/2016/06/30/seeing-more-a-scientists-field-journal/
A fabulous introduction to another writer I know nothing about! What a wonderful skill she has. Thank you!
Good read, something lovely to borrow. http://www.shesatomboy.com
Lovely post and the art work is so peaceful. Perfect choice to complement your post.
Though my choice of expression is definitely through writing, I so admire those who can capture moments and sensations through sketching. I envy it immensely. However, I appreciate that whether words or brushes are used to attend a particular scene, I’m thankful that both cause us to pay attention. Thanks for pairing the both for a thoughtful and beautiful post.
I think i feel exactly the same way. Thank you for reading!
nice read
These should be in biology textbooks…an artform finding it’s way into the souls of the little ones.👌
I think all I remember from textbooks are the diagrams and pictures. More beautiful art would probably make a lasting impact!
Haha…yeah definitely
What beautiful inspiration – and way to connect with nature. Thank you!
Very nicely done. I wish I had the foresight to keep a journal on all the walks through parks I have taken. Although I cant draw, I can take pictures. Maybe I’ll start now. Thanks for the inspiration. – Bill
You’re welcome, Bill. Yes, photography is also a great way to capture the moment. In one sense, I’m glad digital technology has made it so accessible now.
I love it! ❤
Thanks for sharing. I am grateful that we all are students of a greater image of life. I am gratefully blessed to see others with eyes to see and ears to hear the intersections of nature, culture, and identity. I cannot help to think, that through interpretation and translations such as yours; I will be able to articulate my stories with a wider range of influence. Thanks for your patience in writing your story; it is the beginning of the love that emboldens us all. Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts. I’m glad to hear that this may help you in some way to tell your own stories. That’s the best possible outcome as a writer!
I honestly wish I could write that good. Very interesting story indeed..I myself love to draw. It soothes the soul, takes your mind on a mini vacation, and helps think outside the box.
Yes, I’ve been feeling much more relaxed while drawing. It’s a meditative experience.
I am amazed at the talent of some of these writers. My journals never looked like works of art, but rather something that I would never want to show someone.
As long as you get something out of the writing, and as long as you take the time to revisit what you’ve written, I think you’re good. Those to me are the most important elements of journaling.
It’s awesome! I love your post. Very awesome visuals and I love photographs. Keep up the good work
I have never thought of botany as an artform. This post really forces me to reconsider that.
Love this piece!!
Beautiful stuff, I agree!
Yes so do we!
Beautiful.
Wonderful. I am adding this author to my book wish list. Thank you for sharing.
What a wonderful piece of artwork!
I absolutely love it!
The five black coloured wolves prancing and wrestling, are beautifuly described by Baldwin. Thank for sharing.
From: http://bengt.webblogg.se
Beautiful!
Excellent theme, the “intersection of art and science”. There are too few examples demonstrating that the arts and sciences don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Great post.
Brilliant!!!
art and science… really fabulous work!!! 🙂
love it
Reblogged this on Blog by Mr-Bill.
Dig this a lot!
Pingback: Finding Place through Art and Science: The Field Journals of Lyn Baldwin – Ultimate Support Guy
Well written!! :*
Thank you! I love it! when science, creativity, and philosophy combine something magical happens; after all there is a bit of creativity in a phisosopher and a scientist, to reach the depths where imagination and creation come together. I will enjoy rereading.
Reblogged this on Wyrdwend.
Deep and thoughtful. Keep inspiring us.
Lovely post with some excellent illustrations!
Reblogged this on From 1 Blogger 2 Another.
Thank you, both interesting and most beautiful.
Reblogged this on supermom842.
Good!
Loved it !!
Reblogged this on The Underground Artist Pub and commented:
This is so inspiring. I have always wanted to keep a nature journal like this.
I keep a sketchbook in my purse and try to capture something in my everyday life regularly. There is something so specific and compelling about sketches and notes made by hand and from life. Thanks for sharing.
That’s great. I am not very good at capturing things in the moment and would save things for later. But the spontaneity is nice 🙂
Its us who take care that these abandoned places are not forgotten. When we remind ourselves with those beautiful place. The thought of it is itself beautiful and that is what make it extraordinary.
I really love what you wrote. Would you please spare a minute of your time to read my First Blog! Please visit my blog in order to read it. Your comments holds geeat value to me. Thanks.
https://thescribbledmind.wordpress.com
As someone with two degrees in drawing I can attest that the practice of drawing is first and foremost an exercise about “seeing”. Learning how to draw a little bit pays off no matter what else in life one does.
I’m starting to find out that myself 🙂
I find it funny that I was just thinking of my drawing supplies (barely used, barely know HOW to use) and the desire to really pay attention to the world around me and find my artistic groove. Well, I think you just explained and showed great reasons why–they’re fantastic works. Glad you got to see them a bunch, because attention to detail and all is not only helpful, but comes across so well. This was inspiring as I come up with my art plan of a sort…I really need to find a way to re-learn on the cheap!
By training I am a scientist, but I also dabble in the arts. To me this blog post was fascinating and inspiring! I think it is important to think about nature as art and how all art is influenced by nature. Additionally, I work for a nonprofit that supports education of nature through the arts. This post really brings home many of the mission statements and messages that I hold dear.
Hi Lydia, I’m glad this post resonated with you. I revisited this post recently and was inspired by Lyn’s art to take up watercolours and pay more attention to the world again.
Pingback: Illustrated journals change experience with ‘place’ | ArtPlantae