Biology for Life Bookplate, 2026

From 2023-2026 I was working on my first textbook, Biology for Life. With Biology for Life, my goal was to change the way we think about textbooks and biology education. I made four of these "book plates" celebrating the publication of Biology for Life, one for each of the core members of the book team. While I gave the other three away, this one is mine. Each plate had the person's initial in the center (M) and each of the blades of the Dresden plate motif represent a different chapter, starting with the navy blue fabric at the 1 o'clock position.

If you look through the book you can match the art/theme up with the fabrics for each chapter. The last two (butterflies and words) represent the textbook as a whole, butterflies for new life (and the butterfly on the front cover) and the text the writing. The outward radiating quilting represents the book's knowledge going out into the world. I then hand embroidered the title of the book on the bottom of the piece.

Note also the women included in the 7 o'clock position--I'm very proud to say that the core book team was all female, and 3/4 of us were also Moms. So this represents not only the chapter's content, but also celebrating the female crew who made Biology for Life a reality.