ENERGY LANDSCAPES. The Art of Payson R. Stevens

Originally trained in molecular biology at the City University of New York and in oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Stevens studied at the Arts Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has been involved with traditional and new media as an artist, designer, writer, and film maker for 40 years.

Payson Stevens

Stevens founded two award-winning companies, InterNetwork, Inc. and InterNetwork Media, Inc. and was a 1994 recipient of the Presidential Design Award for Excellence from Bill Clinton. He was lead author of "Embracing Earth: New Views of Our Changing Planet," printed in four languages. He was also contributing author and artist/designer to the award-winning college textbooks "Geology Today" and "Biology Today." His film credits include a CINE Golden Eagle Award for a National Public Television broadcast script on Antarctica. From 1981 to 1995, Stevens and his company helped develop a series of award-winning Earth science reports, brochures, posters, and multimedia projects for the major U.S. science agencies.

Stevens has continued to do fine art in both traditional and computer-generated formats since 1970. His electrographic art was in many group shows in the 1970s and was published in the first book on this art form, "Copy Art." His computer art was featured on the SIGGRAPH 83 Art Show Poster and exhibited at SIGGRAPH and other group shows. His computer art was published in the book, "Computer Images: State of the Art," and is found in corporate and private collections. Stevens is currently painting and drawing in his studio in Del Mar and during annual trips to the Kullu Valley, India where he lives part of the year with his wife, the writer Kamla Kapur.

While living in India, Stevens witnessed the impacts of rural poverty: pervasive child malnutrition, limited immunizations for childhood diseases, and few doctors. Moved by these conditions, he helped found the US and Indian NGO, My Himachal (www.myhimachal.com) with a focus on child health care, education, and environmental conservation. Stevens and My Himachal were recipients of San Diego's Project Concern International's "Hands Across the Borders" award in 2008. He has been an advisor to India's Great Himalayan National Park since 2000.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• Part2