Mr Geoffrey Thompson - Queensland Museum Staff
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Geoff started working with insects in 1975, as a research assistant to the late Dr Tom Woodward, Entomology Department, University of Queensland. When Tom found out Geoff was interested in drawing he sent him off for two, one-hour, illustration lessons with Sybil Curtis, then at CSIRO, Long Pocket, Brisbane. Geoff went back to Sybil for critique and developed insect illustration as his major skill. In 1982 Geoff came to the Queensland Museum as a technician, assisting then Senior Curator, Geoff Monteith in the Lower Entomology section for nearly 25 years. Geoff kept illustrating at Queensland Museum as a part of his job. His other duties included participation in collecting fieldtrips, many to pristine rainforest habitats and helping to maintain and enlarge the Queensland Museum's insect collection. Geoff has also developed specialist archival repair skills that he uses particularly in maintaining the historic Dodd Collection donated to the Queensland Museum in 1987. Geoff’s illustrations have appeared in many books, scientific journals, posters and displays and have been used as logos, book covers and presentation pieces. He has won prizes in several national competitions for insect illustration as well as an Australian-New Zealand competition. In 2005 he was awarded a Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship to spend 15 weeks in the USA. Most of that time he spent working with J. Marie Metz at United States Department of Agriculture’s Systematic Entomology Laboratory within the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Geoff learnt specialist digital illustration techniques from Marie during the fellowship and also furthered his interest in high-depth-of-field micro-photography. Since 1998 Geoff has been interested in intaglio printing and now uses his own press to produce etchings in abstract and traditional styles. He has exhibited his traditional illustrations and his prints at many group exhibitions and three solo exhibitions:- at Gladstone Regional Gallery in 2002, at the State Library of Queensland in 2003 and in 2006 at Miskin Gallery, Mt Coot-tha Gardens, Brisbane. Geoff is an active member of the US-based Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, contributing regularly to the email listserv and to the newsletter. He has attended two GNSI conferences, Denver, 2003 (where he exhibited in the group exhibition) and Bar Harbor, 2005. Geoff also has a strong interest in the history of scientific illustration, particularly in the many fine examples held in the Queensland Museum’s research library. Geoff’s printmaking experience has given him much insight into the methods used to produce these beautiful, heritage illustrations.
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