After more than 9 years of writing and managing this website on weather and climate, I will be taking a break to focus on a large, related project. More details coming soon.
In the meantime, feel free to reach out via email or twitter.
Be well!
Tag Archives: arts
Weather and Art: Yoko Ono Brings the Beauty of the Sky Indoors
The sky is always blue at the corner of West 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. That is because of “Sky”, a series of mosaic murals installed on the walls of that subway station by artist Yoko Ono.
Collectively spanning 973 square feet, the six murals create views of bright blue skies dotted with white, puffy, fair-weather clouds. Messages of hope, such as “love”, “dreams”, and “yes”, are also scattered across the subterranean skyscapes.
The murals, which are based on photographs of the sky, were designed to look slightly different from different angles. As such, they appear to mimic the movement of real clouds.
This collection of mosaics is part of the public art program, MTA Arts and Design. It was added to the station in 2018 as part of a renovation project.
Yoko Ono’s “Sky” at the W 72 subway station. Photo Credit: Melissa Fleming
Weather and Art: “Love of Winter”
Today is Valentine’s Day, a holiday when chocolate treats and images hearts abound. But for me, it is George Bellows’ Love of Winter that always comes to mind as we mark the mid-point of what is usually New York City’s snowiest month of the year.
A longtime personal favorite, this 1914 painting captures the spirit of those who embrace the season. Filled with the blurred movement of skaters on a frozen pond and accented with spots of bright color that pop against the white snow, it conveys the joy of being out in nature on a cold winter day.
While Bellows is better known for depicting scenes of boxing matches and urban life, art historians say he enjoyed the challenge of painting the varied lighting conditions produced by a snow-covered landscape. In fact, he wrote a letter to a friend in January 1914 complaining about the lack of snow in the New York City area that winter. He said, “There has been none of my favorite snow. I must paint the snow at least once a year.” Then, on February 13, a blizzard hit the region. The wintry conditions inspired him to create this joyful painting.
Love of Winter is part of the Friends of American Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. Happy Valentine’s Day!
“Love of Winter”, 1914 by George Bellows. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago
“Weather the Weather” Art Exhibition Extended
Art and science have come together at the New York Hall of Science to highlight the fascinating world of weather. In a group exhibition titled Weather the Weather, artworks of various mediums explore the different ways we understand and experience the forces of nature.
Curated by Marnie Benney, this SciArt Initiative exhibition features the work of twenty-one artists from around the world. Honored to be one of them, images from my American Glaciers: Going, Going, Gone and Wildfires series are on display.
The exhibition will be on view through February 20, 2020 at The New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th Street, Queens, NY. For hours and directions visit www.nysci.org
Credit: NYSci
Talking About Art and Environmental Policy at AGU
The 100th Annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) is taking place this week in San Francisco, CA. Marking its centennial, the conference, which is the largest gathering of earth and space scientists in the world, aims to “celebrate the past and inspire the future”.
Thrilled to be a part of it, I will be giving a presentation titled The Power of Perception: Art’s Influence on US Environmental Policy Past and Present. It looks at the role art has played in helping to build the political will behind several landmark environmental policies over the years and how it can help with climate change communication today.
From the Yosemite Land Grant of 1864 to the present, images have helped give the public, and the policymakers they elected, a new way to relate to and understand the issues of their time. In many cases, images mobilized public concern that helped drive legislation. The publication of photos of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 in Time Magazine, for example, helped spur the passage of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the EPA in the 1970s.
While environmental concerns have changed over the years, so too has technology and the way we relate to images. As such, this presentation also poses questions about what form of art will reach the most people and motivate them to speak up on climate change today.
Credit: AGU
Gallery Talk: “Weather the Weather” at NY Hall of Science
Art and science have come together at the New York Hall of Science to highlight the fascinating world of weather. In a group exhibition titled Weather the Weather, artworks of various mediums explore the different ways we understand and experience the forces of nature.
Curated by Marnie Benney, this SciArt Initiative exhibition features the work of twenty-one artists from around the world. Honored to be one of them, images from my American Glaciers: Going, Going, Gone and Wildfires series are on display.
If you are in the area, Ms. Benney will lead a gallery tour and talk with several of the artists on Saturday, December 7 from 2 to 3:30 PM. To attend, please register via Eventbrite.
The exhibition will be on view through January 10, 2020 at The New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th Street, Queens, NY. For hours and directions, visit www.nysci.org
Credit: NYSci/SciArt
Weather Report: Exploring the Atmosphere Through Art
The weather is a hot topic in the arts these days, moving from the background of landscape imagery to the main subject. This transition is the focus of the exhibition, Weather Report at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT.
Curated by Richard Klein, the exhibit features a wide array of artists influenced by the workings of our atmosphere. Some examples that stood out to me include Kim Keever’s “Clouds” that were created with various pigments in a tank of water and Sarah Bouchard’s “Weather Box”, which makes music from weather data. The sculptures of weather map graphics by Bigert and Bergström, a Swedish art duo, also caught my eye as they explore the way weather has influenced historical events. Overall, the exhibition aims to highlight the sky as a place where the aesthetic, the political, and the scientific co-exist and inform each other.
The show is on view through March 29, 2020. For more information, visit: http://aldrichart.org
Bigert and Bergström’s “The Russian Campaign, 1812.” Photo: Melissa Fleming
“Weather the Weather”: An Art Exhibition at the NY Hall of Science
Art and science have come together at the New York Hall of Science to highlight the fascinating world of weather. In a group exhibition titled Weather the Weather, artworks of various mediums explore the different ways we understand and experience the forces of nature.
Curated by Marnie Benney, this SciArt Initiative exhibition features the work of twenty-one artists from around the world. Honored to be one of them, images from my American Glaciers: Going, Going, Gone and Wildfires series are on display.
The exhibition will be on view from September 10, 2019 through January 10, 2020 at The New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th Street, Queens, NY. For hours, directions, and a list of associated events visit www.nysci.org
Icebergs break off from Portage Glacier, AK. Credit: Melissa Fleming
Weather and Art: Louisa McElwain’s “Desert Rain God”
The weather has long been a muse for artists. For Louisa McElwain (1953-2013), an American painter based in the southwest, summer storms were particularly special.
According to Evoke Contemporary, the gallery that represents her estate, McElwain was drawn to “the way the light changes and the clouds dance across the horizon ahead of the rain.” While visiting the Phoenix Art Museum recently, I came across her 2009 piece, Desert Rain God.
This large-scale oil on canvas painting captures a storm in the New Mexico desert just as a dramatic downpour is starting. These storms, largely associated with Monsoon Season in the southwest, are a vital source of moisture in the arid region.
Working outdoors, using the bed of her pick-up truck as sort of mobile studio, McElwain’s paintings aimed to capture her experience of nature. In a statement, she described her approach to painting as a “dance made to the tempo of the evolving day”. Working quickly to depict the changing effects of the atmosphere, she often used palette knives and masonry trowels to apply paint to the canvas. These tools allowed her to avoid being overly descriptive and to create an impasto effect. Most of her paintings, regardless of size, were completed in less than four hours.
Louisa McElwain’s “Desert Rain God” on display in the Phoenix Art Museum. Photo Credit: Melissa Fleming
“Warming Stripes”: The Colors of Climate Change
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. That is the case with “Warming Stripes”, a creative visualization of climate data by Ed Hawkins, a scientist at the UK’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science.
Painting a picture of our changing climate, each stripe represents a single year from 1850 through the present. With an aesthetic similar to color field paintings by artists such as Barnett Newman or Mark Rothko, the images use only color to communicate meaning. Simplifying a complex issue for maximum impact with the general public, they avoid distracting details and focus on the big picture.
In “Warming Stripes for the Globe” (see below), it is plain to see the shift from blue (cooler) on the left to red (warmer) on the right. While there were a few warm years here and there in the past, the overall trend clearly shows temperatures are getting warmer. It is also important to note that the red has been getting darker (hotter) in recent years.
To see how the warming trend is playing out on a more regional or local level in different parts of the world, visit www.showyourstripes.info
“Warming Stripes for Globe, 1850-2018”. Credit: Ed Hawkins