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Tim H. Phelps

Tim H. Phelps, MS

Highlights

Languages

  • English

Gender

Male

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:

  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

About Tim H. Phelps

Professional Titles

  • Director of Production, Department of Art as Applied to Medicine

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Art as Applied to Medicine

Background

Timothy Phelps is a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Professor Phelps serves as the assistant director of the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine. His area of expertise is medical illustration.

He has received more than 40 regional and national awards for his artwork published in textbooks, magazines and professional journals. He has been illustrating medicine and science for 30 years, and his work has appeared in more than 60 surgical textbooks and atlases, 300 book chapters and journals, and 20 magazines.

Professor Phelps received his B.F.A. in graphic design and illustration from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He earned his M.S. in medical and biological illustration from the University of Michigan. Professor Phelps joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1986.

Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Professor Phelps was a staff medical illustrator at the Baylor College of Medicine and an editorial artist at the Houston Post.

His projects have included numerous surgical texts and atlases on otolaryngology, orthopedic and cardiac surgery; co-authorship on the book: Surgical Pathology Dissection An Illustrated Guide; the Ocean Planet project with the Smithsonian; numerous anatomic illustrations for Dog World and Cat Fancy magazines; Art Director and primary medical illustrator for the Johns Hopkins Family Health Book; and completion of more than 500 pen and ink illustrations for a 2008 Merriam Webster dictionary. Professor Phelps is a past president and past chair of the board of the Association of Medical Illustrators. Phelps received the Max Brödel Award for Excellence in Education in 2015 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. He authored Up in Flames: The Art of Flame Painting (2006) and designed a line of flame-painted diecast cars for Greenlight® Toys. In recent years, Phelps has focused on creating over 1600 nature-centric mandalas and rectangular panels. He is the author and illustrator of a 2-volume book set, Wonders of the Garden and Wonders of the Earth, Wind, and Sea (2016), showcasing many of these mandalas. Many more have been featured in group exhibitions and will be part of a solo exhibit in 2025 at the Richmond Art Museum (RAM) in Richmond, Indiana.

Selected Publications

  • Hruban, R.; Westra, W.; Phelps, T.; and Isacson, C. Surgical Pathology Dissection: An Illustrated Guide. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1996, 2nd Ed 2003. Book

  • Phelps T. Up in Flames: The Art of Hot Rod Flame Painting. Wisconsin: Motorbooks International, July 2006. Book.

  • Phelps, Tim. “Colored Pencil for Medical and Veterinary Art.” Journal of Biocommunication, 29:4, 2003.

  • Phelps, Tim. “Creating Textures in Medical and Scientific Illustration in Pen and Ink.” Journal of Biocommunication, 30:1, 2003.

  • Phelps,T. Nature Mandalas: Wonders of the Earth, Wind, and Sea, Life Circles of Biodiversity and Conservancy, Schiffer 2016.

  • Phelps,T. Nature Mandalas: Wonders of the Garden, Life Circles of Biodiversity and Conservancy, Schiffer 2016.

Honors

  • Broedel Award for Excellence in Education 2015, Association of Medical Illustrators
  • (90+ illustrations) Award of Merit Book Award 2015, Association of Medical Illustrators
  • One of the 125 Living the Hopkins Mission Honorees, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1/1/18
  • Distinguished Alumni Award, Wittenberg University, 1/1/98
  • The William P. Didusch Art Award, American Urological Association, 1/1/98
  • Featured Artist, American Artist Magazine, 8/1/97
  • Illustrators Who Teach, Society of Illustrators Exhibit, New York, 1/1/97
  • Best Illustrated Book Award, Association of Medical Illustrators, 1/1/96
  • (300+ illustrations) Award of Merit Book Award, Association of Medical Illustrators, World Congress, 1/1/94
  • Fellow of the AMI (FAMI), Association of Medical Illustrators, 1/1/92
  • 10 Art Awards,, Baylor College of Medicine Interpretations Art Salon, 1/1/84
  • 18 Salon Awards,, Association of Medical Illustrators, 1/1/83
  • 10 Art Awards, Texas Scientific Communicators, 1/1/83

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Department of Art as Applied to Medicine

Memberships

  • Active member, Association of Medical Illustrators, Active member, Committee work (Accreditation Review for the Medical Illustrator, Continuing Education, Finance, Internship, Membership, Mentorship, JBC Gallery Editor, Workshops, Public Relations, and Nominating)

Professional Activities

  • Association of Medical Illustrators, Chairman, 1/1/93 - 1/1/94
  • Association of Medical Illustrators, President (1998), 7/1/98
  • The Vesalius Trust for Visual Communications in the Health Sciences, Board Trustee, 1/1/98 - 1/1/01