Faculty Note | Sharon Birzer | 2021-2022


Sharon Birzer is a botanical and natural history illustrator who teaches Introduction to Scientific Illustration in the first Summer session. Birzer created a series of native plant illustrations for a book titled Yungcautnguuq Nunam Qainga Tamarmi: All the Land’s Surface is Medicine: Edible and Medicinal Plants of Southwest Alaska.
Written by cultural anthropologist Ann Fienup-Riordan, the book features edible and medicinal plants used by the Yup’ik residents of Southwest Alaska.
Yungcautnguuq Nunam Qainga Tamarmi: All the Land’s Surface is Medicine has been voted as the winner of the 2022 Annual Literature Award from The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.