Justin Gibbens

Justin Gibbens received his BA in painting and drawing from Central Washington University in 1998 and a Scientific Illustration Certificate from University of Washington in 2003. In 2002 he traveled to Hefei, China to study traditional Chinese painting. He was the recipient of a 2006 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award and a 2008 Artist Trust Fellowship Award. He is a founding member of PUNCH Projects (formerly PUNCH Gallery), an artist collective based in central Washington. His work has been exhibited throughout the Pacific Northwest and nationally, and collected by corporate and public institutions throughout the Northwest region. Recently he has begun working on public mural projects. Gibbens creates species of birds and other animals that exist solely in his mind. Important precedents for his work include nature documentaries, specimens in natural history museums, and scientific illustrations including the American painter John James Audubon (1785–1851).