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The James R. Smail Natural History and Science Gallery was established in honor of James Smail, a beloved Biology professor and department chair, who died in 1993.  The mission of the Gallery is to communicate science in a primarily visual format.   All exhibits must meet three criteria.  The content must involve science, natural history, or mathematics.  The exhibit must have a strong educational component .  And, the exhibit must be visually striking.

Each year, a Department in the Science Division organizes an exhibit, which is mounted in the gallery for the entire academic year.  In many cases, the artist is invited and participates in the opening of an exhibit.  The gallery was created during the renovation of Macalester’s Science building during the mid-1990s.  With the generous help from alumni, friends, and family, a Smail Gallery endowment was created, which pays for the costs associated with the exhibits.

Mushrooms of St. Petersburg 

Alexander (Sasha) Viazsmensky 

Sasha Viazmensky is perhaps the world's most accomplished painter of mushrooms.  His love for mushrooms began at the age of three when he accompanied his grandmother into the woods on a mushroom collecting hike.  In addition to painting the mushrooms in minute detail, Sasha includes in his           paintings other elements from the environment in which the mushrooms grow,       such as spruce needles, clubmosses, small forest herbs, and even pieces of dirt     and decayed leaves.  His work has appeared in museums all over the world,           including in Tokyo, Stockholm, Cambridge MA, Oxford UK, and Minneapolis.           Curator: Stan Wagon, Mathematics.

More information about this art, including information on purchasing prints, is available at http://www.pelcor.com/mushrooms/SashaMushrooms.html.

Macalester College · 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105  USA · 651-696-6000
Comments and questions to Mark Davis davis@macalester.edu