RALEIGH—Area gardeners and bird watching enthusiasts alike will find "Fine Lines," the latest collection of drawings by nature artists Chris Graebner and June Kluglein, intriguing to say the least. The new exhibit opens at the Museum's Nature Art Gallery on Friday, August 5, 2005.

Chris Graebner is a botanical artist who recently completed the NC Botanical Garden's botanical illustrator certification program. She has been rendering plants in ink, watercolor and colored pencil for over 10 years. Native plants are her favorite subjects. "As a botanical artist, I am fascinated by plants, observing them closely over extended periods of time," Graebner says. "Each stage of a drawing or painting takes many hours of work. Because I find that painting from a photograph tends to 'flatten' the work, I like to have the plant in front of me at each stage. Sometimes this means that a plant will be out of season before the painting is finished, and I will have to put it aside until next year. Occasionally a painting will take three or more seasons to complete. That was the case with KUDZU, a painting in this show." Graebner is a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the American Society of Botanical Artists. She lives and works in Hillsborough, NC.

June Kluglein, an award winning nature artist from Sag Harbor, NY, is largely self-taught. She describes her work as watercolor drawings, etchings or lithographs that are hand colored. She has been an environmentalist for many years and her choices of subjects are inspired by her passion for protecting the natural world. Once she has chosen a subject, like an abandoned bird's nest or a leaf, she photographs it. "A photo helps me 'see' more, but aside from that I'm particular about the shadow it casts," she explains. "That shadow is the necessary anchor for my subject."

At a lithography workshop in 1988, Kluglein learned that she liked drawing on limestone, which has to be done in reverse. "It's a painstaking process that can take 30 to 35 hours just to complete the drawing." Recently she has been doing solar print etchings, which are done on ground glass with a stabilo pencil. She also draws in ink on Mylar, creating a line drawing that she then washes with ink and a brush.

The Nature Art Gallery is located upstairs in the Museum store. This show runs through October 2, 2005. All exhibited art is for sale. Contact Heather Heath at 919-733-7450, ext. 360 for more information.

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the web at www.naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.