Amanda Lilleston Print Montage Featured in Gray’s Anatomy
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, and publisher of Gray’s Anatomy, the world’s most famous anatomical reference, has selected Amanda Lilleston (MFA 2012) as the winner of the Gray’s Anatomy Art Contest. Christopher Smith of Silver Springs, Md., was named runner-up.
Lilleston will receive a $1,000 grand prize for her winning submission. In addition, the winning and runner-up submissions will be featured in the new 41st edition eBook of Gray’s Anatomy, which publishes in October 2015.
“The winning artworks exemplify different aspects of the art of anatomy, which reflect their very different inspirations. One is highly personal and non-representational; the other, a 21st century evocation of the drawings of earlier embryologists such as His and Streeter,” said Susan Standring, PhD, DSc, Emeritus Professor of Anatomy, King’s College London, Anatomy Development Tutor, Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), and Editor-in-Chief of Gray’s Anatomy. “The energy that spills from Amanda Lilleston’s turbulent print contrasts with the controlled delicacy of Christopher Smith’s delineation of the developing brain.” Ms. Standring served as judge for the contest.
Lilleston, an employee in the Anatomical Services Department of the University of Michigan Medical School, said that the inspiration for her submission came from a combination of her previous work as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician and her training as an ecological biologist. “I tend to look at a human as I might look at a landscape, discerning unique characteristics that indicate a specialized relationship with the world. Sometimes, all we can learn about a person is how their physical body was shaped by their life, a clear interpretation of someone’s physical existence in the world.”
Smith’s runner-up submission of a developing human brain was inspired by his current pursuit of a PhD in evolutionary and developmental biology after completing a Master’s degree in Medical Illustration. “I want to begin visually depicting human development in a very detailed, yet artistically pleasing way for research and education. I believe organismal development is one of the most wonderful processes in nature. I chose to illustrate the human brain because of its beautiful abstract form and its function as one of the most complex and sophisticated organismal systems we know today.”
Elsevier launched the Gray’s Anatomy Art Contest in the Fall of 2014. The contest challenged artists to submit original artwork that depicts clear, striking, novel or innovative views of anatomy relevant to modern clinical practice. Elsevier received submissions from artists, medical illustrators, students and physicians worldwide.