About
Cultivating community that cares through creativity & curiosity
Skye Young is an illustrator, arts practitioner, and environmental educator living in Charlotte, North Carolina. With a love of nature and art, she hopes to help her community deepen their understanding of the natural world and foster a sense of belonging through creativity and inquiry.
She was privileged to intern as a botanical illustrator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History during her undergraduate degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. Additionally, she has a Masters in Scientific Illustration from Hogeschool Zuyd in the Netherlands, where she published a thesis on illustrating beekeeper management. She also has a Masters in Conservation and Community Engagement through Miami University of Ohio’s Advanced Inquiry Program - Project Dragonfly, where she explored the use of art and storytelling as a way to improve ecoliteracy and sense of place.
Her personal artwork has been displayed domestically and internationally, in both solo and group exhibitions over the last 15 years. Skye has a love of nature and works in a variety of media, exploring themes of climate, light, time, noticing, and community. She has worked with youth, adults, and elderly in inspiring creativity and earnestly believes that art in any of its many forms is the best tool with which to connect to other people.
Skye has lived and traveled abroad extensively including most recently, her time spent with the Makushi people of Guyana, learning community conservation practices, and participating in birdwatching and youth activities with Project Dragonfly.
She had her own business from 2021-2023 in Colorado, The Curious Hound, where she explored connections between art and nature through a variety of media and provided freelance interdisciplinary workshops in partnership with local organizations and businesses, such as Denver Audubon and the Butterfly Pavilion. After then spending two years establishing a community arts venue in Llanelli, Wales, she now is settling back into deciduous forests of the East Coast.
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
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Major: Communication Arts
Concentration: Scientific and Preparatory Illustration
Minor: Biology
Richmond, VA
2010-2015 -
MA Master of Scientific Illustration (MSI)
Maastricht, The Netherlands
2015-2017 -
Master of Arts in Biology
Project Dragonfly
Advanced Inquiry Program
Denver Zoo Cohort 2021, Denver, CO
2021-2024
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Cobblestones
2013Quail Bell Zine
2013Poictesme
Student Anthology of Literature and Art
2013, 2015Toxicology
Graphical abstract for “A modern literature review of carbon monoxide poisoning theories, therapies, and potential targets for therapy advancement.” by Roderique, JD
August 2015Illustrating Beekeeper Management for the Hobby Beekeeper in order to promote the health and safety of the Western Honey Bee
Thesis publication for Hogeschool Zuyd
May 2017Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering
Graphical abstract for “Robot-scientists will lead tomorrow’s biomaterials discovery” by Jan de Boer, Volume 6, Pages 74-80
June 2018
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W. Hardy Eshbaugh- T.K. Wilson Scholarship in Botany,
August 2023
Miami University of Ohio, AIP DZF 21SCRIPTIEKUNST Masters Thesis Award,
July 2017,
Hogeschool Zuyd, MaastrichtOutstanding Scientific Illustration Student
2013
Virginia Commonwealth University,
Department of Communication ArtsNaomi Winston Scholarship in Art
January 2012
National Society of Arts and LettersVMFA Visual Arts Undergraduate Fellowship,
January 2011 & January 2012
Virginia Museum of Fine ArtsProvost Scholarship
August 2010
Virginia Commonwealth University
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Field Experience
Earth Expedition: Local Wisdom & Conservation Guyana
June 2023
Professional Memberships
Mooresville Arts Center 2026
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
Certificate
Reconstruction of Soft Facial Parts, The Netherlands, 2017
Virginia Master Naturalist, 2020
Internship
Botanical Illustration Internship with Smithsonian Natural Museum of Natural History, 2014