A word about the name
Myriam Studios is the creative practice of Mariya Khan, a Russian‑American artist based in Virginia. Myriam is an early form of my given name, often translated from Hebrew as “sea of sorrow,” “loving,” and “rebellious.” Its emotional depth and sense of complexity and feminine resilience have long resonated with me. As the name of my studio it has become a North star for the kind of work I aspire to make — art that acknowledges the full terrain of human feeling and deep with intellectual inquiry.
Our story
I founded Myriam Studios in 2019 after years of working across scientific illustration, design, and educational media. Inspired by no less than Da Vinvi’s anatomical studies and Galileo’s drawings of the lunar surface — great moments in history when an artist’s observation directly expanded human knowledge — I had completed my graduate training at Johns Hopkins, the birthplace of medical illustration as an academic field. There I studied anatomy through dissection, observed surgery and developed molecular visualization. That training honed my use of drawing as a method of investigation and gave me the chops to pick up new software in a fortnight. My career carried me into computational biology software development and interactive surgical simulation for VR, while as a freelance I continued my work in medical and scientific illustration.
Myriam Studios is where I bring art and science together. While it started as an illustration and design service shop for clients in science and medicine, the studio is growing to support more authored and experimental works in the arts and to provide teaching of creative methods I have developed. It is a practice built on the belief that creativity, research, and communication are inseparable, and that visual media can illuminate complexity with sensitivity and humanity as well as precision.
Our mission and values
Drawing as learning
One of the most satisfying aspects of illustrating science is the ability to use your drawing skill as a scaffold to learn new unfamiliar subject matter. You have to learn it before you can explain it, and creating accurate visuals often pushes the conversation with your client or subject matter expert into the territory of the unknown, pushing the research further. We believe this power of learning and discovery built into drawing is important to share with the the younger generation. Myriam Studio is committed to supporting fine arts education through sharing our research and building partnerships between STEM and art education communities.
Aesthetics for thriving and health
We are dedicated to the study of aesthetics as it relates to cognitive and learning theory, ethics and human happiness. Our strong belief is that on some level beauty and sensory harmony is a basic psychological need, deprived of which we feel pressured, stressed, and in no condition to learn. It’s is an integral part of how we communicate and why we remember what we’ve learned. So we do not sacrifice the aesthetic and emotional value of our works, but explore its ability to speak to the viewer’s needs, vulnerabilities, and curiosity.
Life with Nature
Illustrating natural phenomena and scientific inquiry into the natural world is an expression of our love of Nature. We aim to expand our efforts by supporting sustainability, environmental education, and conservation outreach programs worldwide through our creative partnerships and independent publications.