Free Press, BDN cover Climate Change Institute art exhibit

The Free Press and Bangor Daily News reported on an exhibit at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast that features photography and artwork illustrating the diverse research activities of students, faculty and staff of UMaine’s Climate Change Institute. About two-thirds of the art exhibitors are current or former CCI students, including Jill Pelto, whose watercolors have been used to illustrate the international State of the Climate report and other publications, and Mariusz Potocki, a contributing photographer for National Geographic, the Free Press article states. Molly Schauffler, the science program coordinator at the Hutchinson Center, suggested the exhibit idea to the CCI, according to the article. “I tell people about the art of climate science and they say, ‘How depressing,’” she said. “They think of it kind of like the way they think about going on a diet: something they don’t really want to do, even though they know they should. This exhibit isn’t like that. This is about exploration and discovery.” Nancy Bergerson, the gallery coordinator at the Hutchinson Center, told the BDN the exhibit was curated by the CCI, and she didn’t know what it would include until the art arrived in Belfast. “I was just in awe of the diversity of the work,” she said. “I think it just draws you into what is happening in all parts of the world. Most of us get to a point where we’re just living in our little bubbles. We’re really not aware. This exhibit opens your eyes, I guess you’d say.” “The Art of Climate Science” runs through Sept. 29 in the H. Allen and Sally Fernald Art Gallery.