On July 23, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science hosted a Science Spotlight, highlighting Alaina Wiwi — a paleoartist for the “Hall of Ancient Life.” The exhibit opened in February 2025 and highlights fossils found in New Mexico.
Wiwi is an artist who creates visual depictions of extinct creatures using fossil evidence and modern-day relatives to construct a picture of what the species may have looked like. As a paleoartist, Wiwi was responsible for many of the 113 illustrations, models, dioramas and murals that can be found in the “Hall of Ancient Life.”
Wiwi explained the various forms that paleoart can take: spot illustrations — which feature a single organism as it would have looked in life and no background, full illustrations — which showcase more than one organism in a full scene and bone maps — which help viewers visualize where in the body of an animal a given fossil may have come from. Paleo-artists also make maps of prehistoric landscapes.
Wiwi also walked attendees through her process in creating a spot illustration of an extinct amphibian known as Eryops. She showed her research process — looking at fossils, reading research papers and looking at the body structures, colors and textures of living amphibians.
The pose an animal is drawn in is an area of particular interest for Wiwi. She said she doesn’t like to draw animals in flat profiles and prefers to show creatures in action. In drawing the Eryops, she wanted to showcase its size and its teeth, as well as its intimidation factor.
“We got a bunch of teeth around and then a bunch of little, teeny, tiny teeth that would have scraped up its prey as it was trying to chomp it down. So a very scary mouth,” she said. “And I was like, How do I emphasize that, but still make it clear that it's this kind of big, monstrous amphibian with a tail?”
Wiwi says her paleoart takes a lot of inspiration from the baroque movement, which emphasized movement, contrast and action.
“It's all about that one little moment of drama,” Wiwi said.
Other works by Wiwi highlighted included a full illustration of scavenging deep-sea creatures eating a deceased Dunkleosteus in a piece inspired by whale falls and a sculpture of an ancient sponge reef that guests walk under as part of the “Hall of Ancient Life.”
Wiwi also highlighted some of her personal projects, including more abstract representations of dinosaurs. She explained that her main passion is dinosaurs, and has been since she was a child, but she encourages herself and others to explore.
“I think for artists, and for paleo artists, it's important to always be looking at other artists' work in every sense of the word. So I think it's something that can get lost,” Wiwi said. “If you love dinosaurs, you could get lost only looking at dinosaurs. But if you want to be a good artist, I think sometimes you have to look elsewhere.”
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
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