The Cutting Edge - Contemporary Surgical Illustration Exhibit

The Cutting Edge - Contemporary Surgical Illustration is a celebration of surgical illustration showcasing the works of thirteen talented Colorado-based medical illustrators as well as a special guest artist - Cory Sandone, Director of the Johns Hopkins Graduate Program in Art as Applied to Medicine.

The exhibit, located at the Fulginiti Center for Bioethics and Humanities Art Gallery on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, was curated by AMI member Travis Vermilye, Assistant Professor in Visual Art at the University of Colorado Denver, and Simon Zalkind, Independent Curator and Consultant.

Surgical illustration has long been the backbone of training as a Medical Illustrator and continues to be a widely practiced and important area of work in the field today.

In 1894, a young man by the name of Max Brödel came from his home of Leipzig Germany to work alongside prominent surgeons at the new Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Experienced in drawing human anatomy, Brödel was tasked with helping the surgeons at Hopkins explain surgical procedures via precise, meticulously detailed llustrations intended for publication.

Today, surgical illustration remains a vital niche area of practice within the field of Medical Illustration where artists create visually rich, stimulating imagery of surgical techniques for a variety of publication outlets including textbooks, journal articles, online use, patient education materials, and more. Medical illustrators now employ a variety of contemporary techniques in addition to those perfected by Max Brödel.

Traditional tools such as graphite, pen and ink, and colored pencil are used by many to establish the initial view and quality line work while digital software tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and 3D modeling and rendering tools are used to add in important color and textural information. Training in audience targeting and visual communication further enhance the medical illustrator's ability to deliver quality visual imagery tailor–made for the intended audience.

Featured medical illustrators
(AMI members in bold):

Annie Gough
William Hamilton
Brett Ganyard
Christian Rose
Cory Sandone
Jedidiah Campbell
Joe Fullerton
Julie Coats
Molly Borman-Pullen
Natalie Doolittle
Randy Nelson
Richard Weaver
SangEun Cha
Charles Wesley Price

Download the exhibit catalog​ (PDF).

Reviews: "A Denver Art Exhibit Meant to Get Under Your Skin," by Ray Mark Rinaldi of the Denver Post.

Exhibit Dates: December 17, 2014 – February 19, 2015

The Art Gallery: Fulginiti Pavilion for Bioethics and Humanities
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
13080 East 19th Avenue, Aurora, Colorado 80045
303.724.3994

Gallery Hours: 9:00am - 5:00pm, Monday - Friday, free and open to the public