“SEASHELLS – PROFESSOR ANDRZEJ SAMEK’S PRIVATE COLLECTION AND GOUACHE PAINTINGS”

agreement no 534/P-DUN/2018 of April 4th, 2018 allocated to the activities for disseminating science: Task 1: Preparation of English versions of publications (sum funded by DUN 12,000 PLN) and Task 2: Digitalisation of publications and scientific monographs to enable their open access in the Internet (sum funded by DUN 11,070 PLN). https://doi.org/10.12657/folmal.026.028 Folia Malacol. 26(4): 281–284

Non omnis moriar -these words taken from Horace's songs are often inscribed on tombs, included in obituaries or used in speeches delivered during funeral ceremonies.They remind us that those who have passed away remain alive in the works they have created.They live in the memory of those who lived with the ones who passed away, met them and worked with them or were their disciples.
In 2018 two honorary members of the Association of Polish Malacologists left us forever, namely Professor Maria Jackiewicz and Professor Andrzej Samek.Two papers published in Folia Malacologica commemorated their lives and focused on their achievements (Folia Malacologica 26(2): 57-62, 63-69, 2018).
Professor Andrzej Samek was an extraordinary person.One of the extra-professional passions of this engineer by profession and a professor of the Kraków Polytechnics and AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków was the life of molluscs.Professor Samek popularised knowledge about marine snails, clams and cephalopods and collected their shells.Not only that, he combined his passion with an artistic talent and created gouache paintings of his collection of seashells (Figs 1-3).The crowning achievement of this passion was the "Atlas of marine snail shells" published by Mantis Publishing House, Olsztyn, in 2014.The atlas contained reproductions of his gouache paintings of seashells.Prior to this publication, these paintings were presented at different exhibitions, such as for example, the exhibition  8) and 46 seashells (Figs 9-10) from his collection (mainly those whose paintings are exhibited).The exhibition also features seven books about seashells and 10 academic textbooks authored by Professor Samek.The exhibition also presents Professor Samek's other passions including reproductions of covers of Mały Modelarz (Small Model Maker) as well as publications with paper models designed by him (Fig. 11)."Little Hedgehog's Adventures", a short story for children written by Professor Samek for his small daughter, is yet another exhibit demonstrating Professor Samek's talent versatility.
The exhibition also presents the original diploma of conferring on Professor Samek the title of honorary member of the Association of Polish Malacologists in 2007 (Fig. 11).
The vernissage was held on October 12th, 2018 (Figs 12-13).The event was attended by Professor Samek's wife, the authorities and staff of the Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, students and Professor's friends (Fig. 14).The exhibition will be opened until February next year or even longer since it has raised enormous interest among academics and students visiting the Library of the Faculty of Biology.During "the Researchers' Night" organised on September 28th, 2018 (Fig. 15), an estimated number of 10,000 young people visited the exhibition.Similar attendance is expected during "the Biologists' Night" to be organised on January 11th, 2019.
It means that Professor Samek's works remain alive not only in the memory of those who met him or were familiar with his passions earlier but also amongst those who now learned about his life and creative work.

Fig. 13 .
Fig. 13.Invitation to the vernissage of the exhibition