Vorsitzende der Sitzung
Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and promises
- Julianne Zelda Kiely (The Open University)
- Mario Coiro (Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum)
Beschreibung
Even though plants are fundamental for ecosystems and society, audiences, policymakers, and other scientists are more likely to recognize and appreciate animals compared to plants. This disparity, termed plant awareness disparity, has been attributed to reduced funding for plant-related projects compared to animal-focused research, as well as a global decrease in plant-centered education, conservation, and recognition.
Art is an important tool for scientists to engage with both scientific and general audiences. Paleontological art—or paleoart— has been used to reconstruct extinct organisms and environments for almost 200 years and has influenced many of our assumptions about the past, but has tended to focus on animals, with plants seen as a backdrop or scene-setting, rather than as “central characters”. In this symposium we will discuss how plants have been depicted in paleoreconstructions over time, we will consider the challenges facing plant paleoart, the many intersections between paleobotany and artistic expression, and present promising trends for the future.
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Graham Seymour (University of Nottingham)24.09.26, 09:00Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and promisesTalk
I am a retired plant scientist with a strong personal interest in paleobotany and the evolution of plants. I want to contribute to the understanding of how ancient plants lived by using digital media and oil paintings to set life restorations of fossil taxa within realistic interpretations of deep time landscapes. My artwork is deliberately designed to be attractive to the non-specialist and...
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Susannah Lydon (University of Nottingham)24.09.26, 09:15Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and promisesTalk
The depiction of plants in palaeoart is key to communicating to diverse audiences about life in the deep past. Palaeoart today tends to focus on animals, particularly on tetrapods, and this can be seen as part of the broader issue of zoochauvinism within science communication and popular culture more generally. However, it is within the field of palaeozoological art that much thoughtful work...
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Jörn Lies24.09.26, 09:30Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and promisesTalk
Plant paleoart often turns fossil plants into scenery, although extinct plants can be visually and conceptually as unfamiliar as any animal. Tempskya, a Cretaceous fern known mainly from silicified false trunks, is a striking example: its body was composed of numerous dichotomising axes, petioles and a dense mantle of adventitious roots, yet widely reproduced reconstructions still follow...
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Anita Milroy (The University of Queensland)24.09.26, 09:45Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and promisesTalk
Plant palaeoart sits at an innovative threshold between scientific description and artistic revelation; its promise lies not in passive illustration but in dynamic knowledge production and access. Drawing on ongoing research with Queensland Museum's palaeobotanic type collection, I present an intra-disciplinary methodology in which artistic practice and palaeobotany operate as mutually...
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