Miami Presents: Escaping Nature - The Art of Environmental Awareness

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Please join us at the intersection of art and science as we take a look at some of the most pressing environmental issues that shape our shared global landscape.  Geologist and author Dr. Orrin H. Pilkey and environmental artist Mary Edna Fraser will help us explore some of the intricate relationships between artistic expression and scientific inquiry, shedding light on the many complexities of global climate change.

Pilkey and Fraser have collaborated on various exhibitions, books, and lectures for more than three decades, and will focus this presentation using art to parallel and illustrate the science of Earth’s rapidly warming climate and the often disastrous effects it has on the planet.

Dr. Orrin H. Pilkey is the James B. Duke Emeritus Professor of Geology at Duke University. For decades, he has researched, written, and published on marine and geological issues impacting coastal areas of the world. His focus on global warming and the resulting sea level rise explores devastating changes that affect people, wildlife, sea life, and the environment as a whole. Pilkey has published and lectured extensively on his research with visual explorations of coastlines and waterways with his artist-collaborator, Mary Edna Fraser.

Mary Edna Fraser is an artist based in Charleston, SC, who has explored the beauty and the dramatic changes to coastlines and inland waterways around the world through her batiks. Using the delicate and traditional art of batik, Fraser depicts the changing landscape impacted by global warming and sea level rise based on aerial photographs she takes and from images acquired from sources such as NASA. Her large-scale batiks of the landscape are featured in several books published with her geologist-collaborator, Dr. Orrin H. Pilkey. 

The event is free to attend, but registration is required. Questions? Please contact Mollie Young at youngmr@miamioh.edu.