Now on view at the William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut, Storrs: August 26-December 14, 2025
Opening reception on Thursday, September 4: Register here.
Panel presentation on Thursday, September 25, 4:30-6:30 pm: Register here.
Among the six photographs of mine on view at the Benton Museum of Art are Smoky Panorama, 18 x 10 inches. The addition of nuanced hand-coloring with pastel pencils emphasizes the movement through space and repeating fractal forms of cloud formations photographed from my backyard.
I am among the artists included in an exhibition of clouds in contemporary photography mounted by the museum in collaboration with the UConn College of Engineering and Professor Georgios Matheou who recently received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award focusing on clouds. Dr. Matheou combines theory, modelling, computational algorithms, in situ-measurements and remote sensing data to understand and predict multi-physics fluid flows. I first met him at an art-science exhibition at the National Academy of Sciences art gallery in Washington, DC, which included a mesmerizing animated projection on the wall of one of his lab's projects, which modeled the formation of clouds over the ocean.
My own engagement with this subject began over 15 years ago, when I was drawing and creating hand-modeled painted wall reliefs based on forms in nature. I began wondering about what accounts for the diverse forms organisms take in the natural world. In search of answers, I began reading books on the science of growth and form in nature written for the layperson — I call them "NPR Science Friday" type books. I became particularly fascinated by theories that explain how complex temporary forms arise in response to particular conditions acting at that moment, which led me to source books of photographs of fluid dynamics experiments that actually are produced for scientists. Armed with this new insight into what I was seeing, I started noticing a spatial dimension and fractal forms in the clouds in the sky. Since clouds are in constant transition, the best way to capture them in an art medium is through photography, which stops the action. Adding nuanced hand-coloring to the prints with pastel pencils became a means of discovering the underlying order beneath what first appears random, and communicating my enriched perception of nature to others. Over the next few years I created a large series of cloud photographs.
Panel presentation on Thursday, September 25, 4:30-6:30 pm: Since I am very invested in art-science dialogues, I am also excited to be participating in a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Matheou with two research scientists at the museum on the 25th: Ann Fridlund from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Miad Yazdani from United Technologies. The panel will explore perspectives at the intersection of art, science, and engineering: What are the roles of clouds and the turbulent atmosphere in art, science, and engineering? Clouds are always transient: How do we observe, analyze, and understand ephemerality? Regarding clouds and their role in environmental change, from extreme weather to climate change impacts: what are opportunities and challenges in visual communication and public engagement? Register here.
Other photographers in the exhibition include Ansel Adams, Kate Cordsen, Sally Gall, Sebastiao Salgado, Michael Light, and Chip Hooper.