TALKS & TEACHING

Talks & Teaching

Since 2018, Fiona has given more than 25 presentations and classes on birding, nature journaling, and curiosity for a variety of organizations, including the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Environment for the Americas/World Migratory Bird Day, Richardson Bay Audubon/Audubon California, the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, the Point Reyes Birding Festival, California State University Chico, Environmental Volunteers, the Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference, and The Foster Museum. She has also co-taught several classes and participated in on-stage conversations with her mentor, John Muir Laws. See the complete chronological list below for more details and links to videos (when available). See this page for Fiona's bio. See this page for Fiona's nature journal gallery.

In January 2024, Fiona gave a talk, led a bird drawing and journaling class, and appeared in a conversation about mentors with John Muir Laws for the Morro Bay Bird Festival.
In June and July 2023, Fiona hosted a nature journaling demo table at the Exploratorium in San Francisco as part of a family day, Natural Connection: The Environment and You, and as part of an adult event, After Dark: Ecological Futures.
In May 2023, Fiona gave a talk, an owl drawing demo, and a nature journaling demo as part of the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival.
In September 2022, Fiona was a speaker at the fourth annual Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference, an international online event. Fiona gave a presentation with NY Times bestselling author and avid birder and nature journaler Amy Tan called "Finding Beauty In Your Own Backyard Birds: Fiona Gillogly and Amy Tan in Conversation." Fiona and Amy had a lively discussion about the joys of observing and journaling the birds in their backyards and nearby trails. They shared stories, journal pages, techniques, and bird feeder ideas.
In June 2022, Fiona solo taught a class for Audubon California on how to draw and paint a Painted Bunting as part of Pride Month celebrations. This class was streamed on the Facebook pages of Audubon California and the National Audubon Society. Watch the class here.
In September 2021, Fiona was a speaker at the annual meeting of the Western Bird Banding Association. In her talk, "Learning to Read Wings: My experience as a volunteer bird bander," Fiona discussed her volunteer banding work with Gold Country Avian Studies, her recent experience attending an Advanced Bird Banding Course, as well as some of journal pages she created in the class.
In June 2021, Fiona was a speaker and teacher for the third annual Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference. She developed and co-taught a nature journaling class with John Muir Laws: "How to Science: The Nature Journaler's Guide to Asking Questions and Exploring Answers." As part of the keynote evenings, she also gave a talk: "Mentors, Pencil Miles, and Curiosity: My Nature Journaling Journey."
In May 2021, Fiona taught a bird drawing and journaling class as part of Bird Day Live, an online World Migratory Bird Day event hosted by the Environment for the Americas. World Migratory Bird Day is a global event that celebrates the phenomenon of bird migrations and serves as a call to action to protect the birds we share. Watch Fiona's talk and bird drawing and journaling demo.
In April 2021, Fiona was one of the featured presenters and the first ever youth speaker for the Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival, hosted by the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin in California. She taught a Bird Journaling class for children as part of their Free Youth and Family Virtual Day, and she gave a talk, "Spark Chickens, Mentors, and Sketching: My Journey as a Birder and Nature Journaler." More information on the festival is here.
In March 2021, Fiona taught bird drawing classes for children as part of the World Migratory Bird Day Spring 2021 Bird Camp, hosted by the Environment for the Americas. World Migratory Bird Day is a global event that celebrates the phenomenon of bird migrations and serves as a call to action to protect the birds we share.
In March 2021, Fiona co-taught a class with her mentor John Muir Laws, "How and Why to Keep a Birder's Journal: Birder's Field Journal Pro Tips," which was held in partnership with Richardson Bay Audubon and livestreamed on Facebook by Audubon California and the National Audubon Society. Check out the class info here, or watch the video.
In January 2021, Fiona gave a talk for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory's Birdy Hour series: "Taken Under Their Wings: How Chickens and Supportive Mentors Launched My Passion for Birding and Nature Journaling." Fiona shared how her journey as a birder began as well as stories of key mentors who have had a profound impact on her, including artist, educator, and author John Muir Laws. Watch the video.
In January 2021, Fiona co-taught a nature journaling class with John Muir Laws, for the Exploratorium of San Francisco's virtual Member Programs: Nature Journaling: Refrigerator Safari. In this class, Fiona explored a pepper from her garden, sharing how she creates a page, including drawing, painting, and writing observations and questions. Watch the video.
In December 2020, Fiona was a guest speaker in an online nature journaling class taught by John Muir Laws. She shared a few early nature journal pages and a way of documenting color variation that she invented in 2017 and that Laws named "the Fionagraph." Click here to watch.
In November 2020, Fiona was a speaker in an online program of the Exploratorium of San Francisco: After Dark Online: Sustenance—Contemplating Creativity. Fiona shared her nature journal practice and how it enables her to explore curiosity. Watch a video of Fiona's segment of the program.
In October 2020, Fiona and John Muir Laws shared a short conversation about nature journaling, attention, love, and hope (with some sprinkles of humor) as part of the Heyday Harvest, a fundraiser for Heyday Books. Watch the video.
In October 2020, Fiona gave a talk, A Birder's Brain on Paper, as part of a Youth Birder Panel for Bird Day Live. (To go straight to Fiona's segment of the panel, click here.) The Virtual Bird Day Festival, hosted by World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), a global event that celebrates the phenomenon of bird migrations and serves as a call to action to protect the birds we share.
In October 2020, Fiona co-taught a class with John Muir Laws called Exploring Mysteries in Your Nature Journal, at the 2nd annual Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference.
In August 2020, Fiona was a guest in a 3-part workshop for teachers on how to teach nature journaling led by John Muir Laws in collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She talked about why she loves journaling, how journaling has helped support the development of her curiosity, and she shared and discussed a recent page from her journal. Watch a video of Fiona's section of the class, which includes an intro by John Muir Laws.
In February 2020, Fiona participated in a presentation with John Muir Laws at the Gateway Science Museum in Chico, CA, called "Thinking Like a Naturalist: Reclaiming the Art of Natural History," an event co-sponsored by California State University Chico, and California Science Project, Inc. Laws invited Fiona to share some of her journal pages and have an on-stage conversation about nature journaling and curiosity. The two also took questions from the audience. Click here to watch the entire evening's program. To jump right to Fiona's segment, click here.
In September 2019, Fiona was one of 18 teachers invited to the first-ever Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference in Pacific Grove, CA. This event, attended by 275 students, brought together people who are passionate about nature, art, science, curiosity, and wonder to share ideas, learn from each other, support each other, inspire each other, and have fun together in a nature’s beauty. At this event, Fiona co-taught a class about curiosity in nature journaling with her mentor, John Muir Laws, called Down the Rabbit Hole: Curiosity and Wonder. During the Saturday keynote evening of the conference, Fiona gave a talk, introduced by John Muir Laws, on her nature journal practice, the joy of curiosity, and why we need to ask lots of questions. Click here to watch.
In September 2019, Fiona was thrilled to be the first teenager ever invited to present at the Los Altos High School STEAM Week event, in Los Altos, CA. In its 14th year, the event recruits leaders from local business, industry, and academia to speak with and inspire the students. In advance of the event, the school newspaper, The Talon, ran a brief interview with Fiona. At the event, Fiona offered a classroom presentation, Cultivating Curiosity: How I use my nature journal to explore mysteries, see connections, and build curiosity as a skill.
In April 2019, Fiona was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Wake Up to Nature event for the Environmental Volunteers (EV). This annual breakfast event raises funds for EV to send volunteer docents into San Francisco Bay Area area schools to give thousands of children first-hand experiences in nature, with the goal of nurturing the next generation of nature stewards. Fiona spoke to the 200+ assembled crowd about her own nature-rich childhood, her connection with nature through art and nature journaling, and why it is important for all of us to be connected to nature. Watch a video of Fiona's talk. Read a transcript of her talk.
In October 2018, Fiona was honored to be featured in the Artist Explorer lecture series at The Foster, a museum in Palo Alto. In her talk, Fiona shared about her love of nature journaling and had an on-stage conversation about art, curiosity, flow states, and self critics with her mentor, John Muir Laws. Watch a video of Fiona's talk.
In November 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, Fiona has given talks at the Central Valley Birding Symposium, an annual gathering of birders from across Northern California. Each year before the Saturday evening keynote address, Fiona has talked with the 300+ attendees about her experience at birding camps (for which this group has awarded her scholarships), her love of birds, and her nature journaling.

Go To: