Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey
Yevonn Wilson-Ramsey developed an interest in art at an early age. Lavishly illustrated children’s books, such as those of by Garth Williams and Tasha Tudor, inspired her to draw for hours on end. Raised in a family that included several successful artists and architects, Wilson-Ramsey was gently encouraged to develop her talent; her parents provided her with plenty of art supplies, but generally left her to create her own style.
Wilson-Ramsey did her first professional work as a botanical illustrator while enrolled as a Landscape Design major at Texas Tech University. Her botany professor noted her artistic talent during a class project and asked her to illustrate a publication on color patterns in chrysanthemums. This positive experience lead her to spend several years illustrating college textbooks for Mosby Publishing Company. In this capacity, she refined her ability to enhance and clarify scientific writing through art.
Between 1973 and 1979, Wilson-Ramsey worked on illustrations for the Flora of Panama project based at the Missouri Botanical Garden. In 1985 she began a four-year project, her favorite to date, at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Here she worked as the sole illustrator for the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i. Twelve years ago Wilson-Ramsey returned to the Missouri Botanical Garden to work on the Flora of North America. Her illustrations can now be found in nine volumes of the anticipated thirty volume project. Beginning in 2001, she was promoted to Art Director and Illustrator for the project, which allows her to contribute her own illustrations as well as coordinate the efforts of several other contributing artists.
Wilson-Ramsey’s work has been featured in national and international exhibitions. She has been commissioned to create artwork for celebrities such as television and film star James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano in The Sopranos) and Prince Andrew of the English Royal Family. In 1987 at a World Wildlife Fund symposium, Prince Phillip of England requested a private viewing of original artwork created by Wilson-Ramsey for the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i.
In addition to Wilson-Ramsey’s work on the Flora of North America, she receives regular commissions from the Missouri Botanical Garden staff to illustrate scientific papers, often portraying species new to science. In the near future she hopes to return to one of her early artistic loves; oil and watercolor painting of plants and flowers.