In the darkest reaches of the Earth’s oceans live a multitude of strange and wondrous creatures. Artist Karen Jacobsen has captured the essence of these creatures in watercolor illustrations and vivid landscape paintings. Her work is featured for the first time ever in Beyond the Edge of the Sea, which represents the culmination of a collaboration between artist and deep-sea scientist and explorer, Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover.

Jacobsen's images capture the poise and motion of deep-sea animals with an accuracy and beauty that is reminiscent of the drawings and paintings of John Audubon. Audubon explored and documented animals of the American wilderness; Jacobsen explores and documents the species of the deep-ocean wilderness. With Jacobsen's work, we have the opportunity to glimpse into another world, one that few of us will see ourselves.

Beyond the Edge of the Sea opened September 6th, 2008 at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary. It will be on display at the North Carolina Maritime Museum from January 17th - March 15, 2009.

For more information please contact, the Muscarelle Museum of Art staff at museum@wm.edu or 757.221.2700.