Info & Contact

Not hiring; do not send portfolios.

For requests to work with Quanta OR permission for Quanta art, see QUANTA section below.

No AI: I do not use LLM-generated content in my work, nor condone it.

ELSEWHERE IN CYBERSPACE

Linktr.ee/NatureinTheory
Real-time 3D: Sketchfab
Pinterest: art | direction

SHOP

Prints: INPRNT

ABOUT

Artist, designer, and director with over 20 years of experience in both freelance and staff roles, and over a decade in science journalism and scicomm specifically.

Currently collaborating with scientific publications, researchers, labs, universities, and others globally. Open to freelance, consulting, and full-time opportunities.

I work in a variety of styles and mediums (most typically digital 2D and 3D), and enjoy the challenge of “visualizing invisible things” — abstract and imperceptible subjects in fundamental science. I'm interested in engaging with a wide variety of topics, including but not limited to physics (from the particular to the universal), biology (micro and macro-scopic), botany, psychology, history, science fiction, and fantasy.

Most recent positions:
Art Editor at Springer Nature, where I created graphics to accompany research papers. Prior to that I was the establishing Art Director of Quanta Magazine (see below).

My work has been published by:
AAAS Science, The American Mathematical Society, The Atlantic, The Baffler, BBC Science Focus, BMW, The European Space Agency, The Institute for Advanced Study, MIT Press, NanoGRAV, Nature Journal, Nautilus, Newton Press (ニュートン), Pour La Science, Science News, Scientific American, The Simons Foundation, Spektrum.de, Symmetry, The U.S. DOE, NSF & U.S. Particle Physics, WIRED, and elsewhere including various books and other publications, galleries, and on one skyscraper in NYC.

Recent achievements:
The Pulitzer Prize, ASME Ellie for General Excellence, Webbys, and One Club Pencil. Solo, I've received an assortment of awards for art and writing since the early 2000s. A university physics department award remains one of my most personally-meaningful honors.

In 2014 I joined Quanta Magazine as the first official Art Director and sole art staff for several years following. My work included establishing and shepherding the visual identity, directing and creating feature art (illustration, photography, interactive, video, etc.), visual / graphic design, hiring and guiding creative staff, and more.

✎ Quanta Contact Form
I am no longer at Quanta, nor hiring. The above form is the best way to get your work seen by current staff.

Permission for Quanta art or graphics:
→ Contact Quanta (form above) if: you need visuals I created from articles dated 2021 or earlier.
→ Email me if: the article is dated 2022 or later, and is at least one year old.
→ If you need a similar visual, I may be available for hire.

SELECT TALKS, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES

• Sketchfab Science Spotlight
  Why & how I created real-time 3D models for Quanta. (text)
  
• SciViz 2019 - Talk
  "Galaxy Leggings, Truth Serum & the Visibility Cloak"
  My approach to scientific / editorial art at Quanta. (video, ~20:00)
  
• Illustrating Mathematics - Book Feature
  After giving a talk at ICERM on the titular subject, my Möbius strip packing animation was featured in a book of mathematical art by Diana Davis / AMS. A younger, math-hating me would be infinitely confused by these developments. Yet here we are!
  

© Olena Shmahalo