Past Projects

P-2016-17 HOVAB Rahmani - Mississippi - Lost Species and Habitat - Trigger Points Tipping Points - 2007 - 13 x 19 inches

P 2016-17 HOVAB Jeanne Liotta Soon Film Images

P-2016-17 HOVAB Rahmani - New Orleans in Gulf of Mexico sea level rise - coastal shift - 13 x 19 inches

P-2016-17 HOVAB Sherry Wiggins Carbon Portrait Crystal

P-2016-17 HOVAB Sherry Wiggins Carbon Portrait Jose

P-2016-17 HOVAB Sherry Wiggins Carbon Portrait Barb

HOVAB: Weathering Climate

Oct 18, 2016 – Jan 15, 2017

HOVAB, The History of Visual Arts in Boulder, was a city-wide, multi-venue project created and produced by author, writer, and curator Jennifer Heath. As part of HOVAB, the UCAR Science Center and EAC co-produced Weathering Climate: Art, Science, and Sustainability a retrospective exhibit that included a selection of environmental science and sustainability-informed artworks commissioned by EAC in collaboration with artists, scientists, bird-watchers, urban planners, politicians, transportation and energy specialists, and community organizations. Artists include both those based in Boulder and national artists who collaborated with Boulder-based scientists.

Weathering Climate artists included Kim Abeles, Brian D. Collier, Rebecca DiDomenico, Michelle Ellsworth, Jeanne Liotta, Jane McMahan, Mary Miss, Aviva Rahmani, Kristine Smock, Michael Theodore & Hunter Ewen, Melanie Walker & George Peters, and Sherry Wiggins.

Among the collaborating scientists were Peggy LeMone (with Airworks, Melanie Walker and George Peters) and Jim White (with Aviva Rahmani). Quotes they gave for the exhibit are below.

“Sometimes it is hard to separate science from art. Both are about seeing things in a new way.
And both are about showing others what you see.”

— Peggy LeMone, Senior Scientist Emerita, National Center for Atmospheric Research

“I think that every scientist should work with an artist; the opportunities to expand your thinking, if not your mind, are priceless.”

— Jim White, Director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, CU Boulder

Weathering Climate also included a panel discussion with visual artist, Rebecca DiDomenico; composer, educator, and multimedia designer Hunter Ewen; Senior Scientist Emerita at NCAR, Peggy LeMone; photographers and installation artists Melanie Walker and George Peters of Airworks; Senior Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) Betsy Weatherhead; and artist/filmmaker Jeanne Liotta.

Weathering Climate was curated by Marda Kirn of EcoArts Connections and Lisa Gardiner of the UCAR Center for Science Education.

Many of the works came from the 2007 exhibit Weather Report: Art and Climate Change, initiated by EAC, curated by Lucy Lippard, and co-produced and presented with the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and others featuring the works of 51 artists from the US and abroad. As far as we know, Weather Report was the first large-scale art exhibit in the United States to focus on climate change.

Other works in Weathering Climate were commissioned for and in collaboration with Science On a Sphere^®, or as individual projects, in collaboration with a variety of organizations and individuals.

The Role of Collaboration

Each of the Weathering Climate commissions were created by pairing artists with scientists and others based on what EAC calls “the point of wonder,” meaning that the pairings were of people interested in exploring the same questions, but from different perspectives.

Sometimes the artist/scientist interaction was very brief — just a conversation or two, along with the artist’s own reading, viewing, and/or other research. Sometimes the interaction was ongoing and deep, with monthly or even weekly meetings. Each time there was learning on all sides — with the artworks evolving to help us see and think about the world in new ways.