Department of Art

Dorie Petrochko

Visiting Artist Lecture

Wednesday, September 29, 2021, 11:00 am

Visual & Performing Arts Center
WCSU, Westside Campus

Dorie Petrochko is an award-winning wildlife painter and illustrator. She is a  founding instructor of the Natural Science Illustration Program at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, teaching classes in drawing, watercolor, mixed media and colored pencil. She is an active member and exhibitor of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. In 2019, her work was included in the guild’s International Exhibit in Sydney, Australia. She has also had recent shows in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

Petrochko is the recipient of the Don Eckelberry Fellowship for wildlife painting, the Julia and David White Artist Fellowship in Costa Rica, and the Big Cypress National Park artist residency in Florida. She received her master’s degree in art education from SCSU and a certificate in botanical and natural science illustration from the New York Botanical Garden.

Petrochko’s dedication to educating others through art about the changing environment and species preservation is a life-long commitment. In her artist statement, she writes about her bird paintings: “What does it take to be a bird artist? Primarily, a passion for birds and an intense focus on all things avian, including research, birding, travel and conservation. Bird paintings are ever evolving. The added challenge is that there is something intrinsically spiritual and secretive about birds that is often untouchable. That is what keeps me going.”

http://www.doriepetrochko-studio.com/