about — ALEX BOERSMA

ALEX BOERSMA is Canadian scientific illustrator, currently living in Chicago. She has long held a passion for nature and being outdoors; working as a wilderness adventure guide in the past gave her the perfect excuse to spend all summer paddling the waterways of Canada. Her particular love of whales developed after her first encounter with a narwhal while leading a kayak trip in the Canadian arctic. After studying geology and studio art at Vassar College in New York, Alex worked at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, conducting research on whale evolution in the Pyenson Lab, Paleobiology department. Articles on her research have appeared in multiple news outlets, including the New York Times, BBC News, Nature, and the Washington Post.

As an illustrator, Alex’s work runs the gamut of science media, from figures for scientific journals, to editorial illustration, museum exhibits, and non-fiction children's book illustrations. From her background in science academia, she has experienced first hand how important good visuals are to communicating research and engaging a wide audience in scientific findings. Alex aims to create scientific illustrations that can function not only as an accompaniment to scientific writing, but also stand alone as works of art.

For updates, follow Alex on Instagram and Twitter at @alexboersma_art.