Host Jessica Leigh Lebos welcomes back Joy Davis, the Tybee Island Marine Science Center’s permanent artist-in-residence, a biologist-artist known for the Center’s three-dimensional North Atlantic right whale model of “Smoke” and life-size sea turtle models.

Davis discusses how homeschooling, travel as an Air Force brat, and a blended arts-and-science college path shaped her career, plus her move to Savannah/Tybee through teaching, bartending, ocean-driven volunteering, and eventually working at the Science Center. She explains the research and collaboration required to make the whale anatomically accurate, including reproducing Smoke’s unique callosities and adding 3D-printed “lice.”

Davis also describes work with Animal Exhibits and Designs creating zoo/aquarium environments, new Tybee exhibits like a sit-in osprey nest, four tiled ecosystem murals (marsh, maritime forest, dunes/beach, and Gray’s Reef), and a newly approved backyard pollinator and memorial-style garden.

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Proudly produced by Dee Daniels Media Podcast Network

FIND A FAVORITE SPOT IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Welcome to Tybee Podcast

00:45 Meet Joy Davis

02:21 Homeschool Roots

04:35 College and Mentors

05:43 Moving to Savannah

07:12 Tybee Ocean Pull

08:35 DIY Science Center Builds

09:17 Making the Right Whale

12:07 Smoke Fingerprints

14:09 Zoo Fabrication Work

16:18 Research First Process

17:04 Osprey Nest Exhibit

19:57 Murals Reveal

20:45 Mentor Polly Cooper

21:26 Barrier Island Ecosystems

23:49 Tile Craft Process

25:35 Firing Glazing Install

27:06 Backyard Garden Plans

28:49 Surfing Intuition Story

31:59 Wild Water Encounters

34:07 Teamwork Farewell

36:06 Science Center Membership