Sea Grant award-winner focuses on ocean environments

KINGSTON, RI – October 20, 2010 – Sculptor Nathalie Miebach will give a presentation at the University of Rhode Island Fine Arts Center on Tuesday, Oct. 26. She is the first visiting artist to appear at URI through the Rhode Island Visual Arts Sea Grant program.

Miebach, from Brookline, Mass., was one of three recipients of the 2010 Visual Arts Sea Grant award, given for her installation “Changing Waters,” which explores the ecological interaction between weather systems and marine environments in the Gulf of Maine.

Her presentation is free and open to the public, and will take place at 3:30 p.m. in room A202 of the Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston.

The artist is translating data from NOAA and GOMOSS buoys, and looking at the interactions between atmospheric and marine data. She is creating a large wall installation that plots information through geographic anchors of a map of the Gulf of Maine. A series of large hanging structures, “Kelp Forest,” will look at more specific relationships between marine ecosystems and weather patterns.

“My work focuses on the intersection of art and science, and the visual articulation of scientific observations,” said Miebach, who earned an MFA in sculpture from the Massachusetts College of Arts.

The Visual Arts Program of Sea Grant was established in 1988 to encourage professional artists from New York and New England to address the environment of the ocean and coastal communities.

For more information about Miebach’s presentation, contact Barbara Pagh, URI Department of Art and Art History, at bpagh@uri.edu. Information about Visual Arts Sea Grant can be found at uri.edu/artsci/art/visual_arts_sea_grant.html.