Newsletter

Winter 2003

Au Sable Alumni: Christi Sobel

Some alumni opt for sending themselves back to Au Sable, rather than a letter. One particular alumna keeps coming back to Au Sable almost every summer for “working vacations.” Christi Sobel first came to Au Sable in 1992 to take Field Botany and Aquatic Biology at Great Lakes. She then returned over the next several years and painted two large murals of the local forest and pond life (see picture below). Her working vacation consists now of helping out in the kitchen and then getting out to enjoy the bike trails, Big Twin Lake and many more wonderful things at Au Sable. Most recently, Christi helped us design a new logo for Au Sable.

Christi grew up in Brooktondale NY, a small community to the southeast of Ithaca, and returned to her hometown a few years ago to live and build her freelance art and illustration business. In between, she has gained a degree in art and biology from Eastern College (St. Davids, PA) and a graduate certificate in scientific illustration from the University of California-Santa Cruz, “as well as a taste for travel and a great collection of memories of beautiful places,” says Christi

Christi has also worked at and been published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London), taught art classes in a small village in the Central Plateau of Haiti, worked in North Fort Myers, Florida as an itinerant artist for Au Sable’s partner organization, ECHO (Educational Concern for Hunger Organization), illustrated a book on agroforestry techniques, hung several solo shows in the Philadelphia and Ithaca areas, and “generally wandered around looking at things and being artistically useful wherever possible.” She now freelances in art and scientific illustration, working for a variety of people on a variety of projects. Current clients include the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Paleontological Research Institution. She also has a line of note cards in her artwork, which she sells at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market and through her website (http://christisobel.clarityconnect.com).

Christi says, “My work reflects what I find beautiful and interesting in the Creation that surrounds us, bringing attention to the details that might otherwise go unnoticed.”

All artwork used with permission from Christi Sobel
(http://christisobel.clarityconnect.com)