Clara Baumgarten

Clara Baumgarten grew up in Wheaton, Illinois where she was homeschooled up until college. Art has always been a passion. Whether it was filling her first sketchbooks with portraits of her dogs to creating homemade hats and notecards as Christmas gifts Clara was always creating.  At the age of 13 she started caddying at the prestigious Chicago Golf Club. Through this experience Clara met many successful business men and women from various backgrounds who still have an impact on the person she is today. As college was approaching Clara was torn between studying art or science and then was exposed to the amazing field of Medical Illustration.

With the constant support of her family, friends and the members of Chicago Golf Club, she received the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship which was a full tuition and housing scholarship to Indiana University. While at IU she studied Fine Arts, Biology and Art History in efforts to have the opportunity to attend UIC’s BVIS program. Upon graduating from IU in 2020 UIC was the obvious choice for Clara because of the wonderful community, supportive faculty and current students she connected with and the amazing curriculum BVIS offers. Clara joined the BVIS family in 2022. While in the BVIS graduate program Clara’s goals are to continue to develop her skills in traditional medical illustration while specifically developing new skills in 3D modeling and animation. In the future, Clara aims to convey the power of visual literacy in healthcare through her work while focusing on accessibility, clarity and representation for all.