• Biography

Maria do Rosário de Fátima Seleme Zagonel, was born in Canoinhas/SC in 1954. She had her primary and secondary education in Curitiba/PR. In 1976 she under graduated in Languages (Portuguese/English) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUC-PR).

Between 1977 and 1982 she took courses in watercolour technique, cartoon, aerographic, visual communication and actualization in arts. In 1993 she specialized in Marketing, Publicity and Advertisement by Administration and Economics College of Paraná (FAE-PR).

She worked as a graphic designer for about 20 years before getting interested in scientific illustration. Her first contact with botanical illustration was in November 1996 at a workshop with Simone Ribeiro (First Prize at Margaret Mee Foundation (FMM) National Conquest in 1995).

In 1998 she took a Free Course of Botanical Illustration ruled by Diana Carneiro (Ninth person to take the Fellowship of FMM / 1997 / Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew – London (RBGKew)) at the Botanical Museum of Curitiba City under the supervision of the FMM.

In May 1999 she got the Fellowship of FMM, specializing for 6 months at the RBGKew, under Christabel King’s guidance.

Today she is chiefly dedicated to Scientific Illustration, without forgetting the commercial artwork. She is one of the founders of the Botanical Illustration Centre of Paraná – CIBP, where she was the coordinator in 2002/2003.