Evan Dickey ’26 had no experience with watercolors before his summer internship. The double major in biology and art preferred oil and acrylic for his painting. After Norman Treeves Professor of Biology Amanda Ingram saw his lab notebook for Biology 112, she invited Dickey to participate in an internship she developed just for him.
“Evan’s lab notebook was exquisite, and his drawings were amazing,” she said. “He stopped by my office one day, and I said, ‘Have you ever seen botanical illustrations?’ I pulled out some books and started showing him. At the end of the semester, he gave me a drawing of one of my favorite plants. And it was just incredible.”
Ingram wanted him to create botanical illustrations of several plants native to Indiana. She is studying what she calls a “structurally weird species” in the Eragrostis genus and hopes to use his illustrations in eventual publications about that plant.
Dickey used pen and ink illustrations to create some images, but watercolor turned out to be the medium best-suited for the work. He spent the first part of his internship working with Associate Professor of Art Damon Mohl, learning color use and watercolor technique. After that, Mohl turned the student loose.
“It's been a pretty independent kind of project,” Ingram explained. “Much more so than most science internships. I've been able to guide him toward bits of the plant that he might want to draw in more detail. I can give guidance on the botanical side of things.”
She added, “Evan has really been the driving force on the artistic side.”
When asked about the scope of the project, both Ingram and Dickey agree that they were more ambitious at the beginning of the project.
“It was an eight-week internship,” Evan said. “I finished about eight pieces. I was originally hoping like, ten or twelve, but I’m a little bit of a perfectionist, so it took longer than I was hoping.
“I've never really done this before. It takes time just to make sure that I have all the parts that I want of the plant. I want to make sure I'm pulling out parts that are unique to the plant. It takes me about a week’s worth of work to completely finish.”
The observation skills Dickey learned through his internship promise to prove valuable in the future.
“The thing that I was very interested in learning was being able to identify what makes something unique,” he said. “That can be translated not just into plants, but into any area of my life. Being able to look closely at a subject and understand what makes it unique and how I can bring that to light and make it something that can flourish.”