DR. IOANA POPESCU
Dr. Ioana Popescu studied Biology in Bucharest, Romania in the late 20th century and a couple of years later she went to graduate school in Cincinnati, Ohio. There she met George Gibeau whom she married in also the late 20th century…
She has been a college professor in the US since 1999. She has been at Drury University in Springfield Missouri for over 20 years.
In June 2004 (three weeks) and June 2006 (four weeks) she took students to Romania on a study abroad tour through Drury University.
The class, called ‘Romania – more than just Dracula!’, was a combination of a mostly global cultures class sprinkled with a bit of field and systematic botany.
Since then she continued visiting Romania as often as possible, while ‘chasing’ wildflowers of Romania and ‘building’ a photographic field guide of wildflowers of Romania and Southeast & Central Europe. One of these years Christina Wald (who has been friends with Ioana since 1996) joined Ioana in her search for more wildflowers and together they took a tour of Romania combining… urban sketching with hikes in the wilderness.
Christina talked Ioana into making some tours for sketchers
CHRISTINA WALD
Christina Wald is a full-time illustrator, urban sketcher, and toy/product designer.
She has illustrated over 60 books for children and teaches illustration and sequential storytelling at Northern Kentucky University. She has done a lot of nature-related books and illustrations for clients including the San Diego Zoo, Rocky Mountain Elf Foundation, US Forest Service, US Prairie Reserve, National Science Foundation, Nationa Geographic, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Kew Gardens.
She has taught many urban sketching workshops and runs the Urban Sketchers international organization's social media team. She also started the USk Cincinnati chapter.
She recently wrote a book about sketching called SKETCHING HERE & EVERYWHERE: MY SKETCHING OBSESSION.
She also just wrote and produced a TRAVELOGUE about her artist residency in France at the Chateau d'Orquevaux in 2023 called Chateau d'Orquevaux TRAVELOGUE.
She plans to write her next one about Romania.