As artist-in-residence for the Palentological Research Institution's (PRI) Museum of the Earth, John Gurche combines knowledge of anatomy and paleontology with the craftsmanship of an artist, building models of prehistoric creatures based on their fossils.

Gurche produces scientifically informed sculptures and two-dimensional depictions of early human ancestors and dinosaurs, as shown in the images on this page. In his nearly three decades as a self-described "paleo-artist," Gurche has produced images that have appeared in the Smithsonian Institution, on the cover of National Geographic magazine and even on the big screen in Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park." On Sept. 14, Gurche will present a talk at PRI as part of an ongoing artist-in-residence series. The talk will discuss his work on "Jurassic Park" as one of the film's "dinosaur specialists."

"I started doing paleo-art full time in 1980, of dinosaurs primarily, but they weren't my first love, [they were] more like an exotic vacation," recalls Gurche.

Soon he began to investigate how previous paleo-artists had turned fossils, especially from early human ancestors, into three-dimensional models. "My first reconstruction, in 1984, was of a Neanderthal," says Gurche. "I tried to study how it had been done before but found almost nothing that was helpful. None of it was written down -- it was mostly passed along like folk wisdom, some of which was very inaccurate. As I began to develop my own methods for doing reconstructions, it became clear that it'd be a life's work."

An anthropologist and paleontologist by training, Gurche developed his artistic technique over many years of study and practice. "I teamed up with other anthropologists at the University of Santa Cruz, dissecting human and primate specimens. I worked primarily on the head and face, which is how I came to be able to do what I do today." As PRI's artist-in-residence, Gurche continues to work on illustrations and reconstructions for PRI and others.

"Right now at PRI I'm working on pieces for an exhibit called 'The Human Mosaic,' which tracks the evolution of specific features of the human body. There are about 200 pieces that are candidates, and I'll cull the best that illustrate how we came to have the characteristics that we have today. It's primarily anatomical drawings in the Renaissance tradition applied to the human fossil record."