Profile

Joan Thomson a transplant from New York State, I always loved to draw and paint, and as a child would go into the woods and draw the wildflowers. I have lived in Japan, Kentucky, Louisiana and California, and now reside in New Hampshire. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Kentucky, I have sought to integrate my interests in art and education and pursued careers in both illustration and teaching. In California a fascination with medical art took hold of me, and this led to nineteen years as a medical illustrator at Dartmouth Medical School (now the Geisel School of Medicine) in Hanover, New Hampshire. I made New Hampshire my home and continued explorations of nature with volunteer work with the New England Wildflower Society, with hiking, cross-country skiing, gardening, travel, family activities, gardening, swimming and canoeing. I have been a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and benefitted from their classes and workshops. I am an active member of the Cardigan Mountain Art Association in my hometown of Canaan, NH. Always I have maintained connections with nature and the life sciences and seek to help others form those connections. In recent years I have returned to teaching with experiences such as teaching classes in drawing, both in high school and with adults, teaching classes in arts and crafts at a day camp, and most recently, by teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. With my English students, I teach English by way of my students’ interests, which often veer toward learning about the natural world.