MICHELLE SCHWENGEL-REGALA

After fifteen years communicating science as a natural history and medical illustrator, I expanded my repertoire to include multimedia approaches including metalpoint drawing and fiber sculpture, often scaled up to installations. Recent expeditions across Polynesia and under Antarctic ice reconnected me to research and brought distant
topics into the hands of the community through my participatory project offerings.

BIO

Michelle Schwengel-Regala is from Madison, Wisconsin and grew up in a rural region of the state’s Driftless Area. Attuned to nature, she has degrees in Entomology and Wildlife Ecology from UW-Madison with emphases on taxonomy and conservation biology. Art was always a large part of her academic process, and while she initially used drawing as a study technique to learn anatomy, working as a science illustrator during and after college demonstrated ways science and art merge in Science Communication. After graduate work on beetle taxonomy, she completed a Graduate Certificate in Science Illustration from UC-Santa Cruz and was a scientific and medical illustrator for fifteen years. Relocating to the island of O'ahu brought her closer to many species of concern since college, especially endemic and endangered Hawaiian birds, plants, and ecosystems. Her art has expanded beyond illustration to include sculptural forms, often incorporating textile techniques in installation format and repurposing leftover materials from scientific equipment. Research expeditions across Polynesia and in Antarctica brought climate change into focus as her subject matter.

See more at schwengala.com or @florafaunafiber