Minimum Extents at the National Weather Center
My approach to image-making takes traditional abstract painting methodologies and fusing them with scientific data. An example of this processes is my painting Minimum Extents commissioned by the National Weather Center in June 2023. For this project, I worked with Dr. Berrien Moore, founding director of Climate Central and director of the National Weather Center. On a plaque mounted next to the painting, Dr. Moore describes the rationale for this painting project:
An expression of the Climate Change.
Today as we are facing an existential challenge that threatens our very way of life - our security, our livelihoods, our social institutions, and our legacy. That challenge is climate change.
The international scientific enterprise has made extraordinary progress, both in what we know and in determining what phenomena science has yet to reveal or understand. We also have a far better awareness of just how hard it is to understand a world that changes around us, changing in no small part from our own doing. The Arctic has surprised us with a pace of transformation that is far faster than anticipated.
Our scientific advances in understanding the planet warn us of the challenges hurtling our way. The past and the future are converging, and their meeting demands critical scientific and policy actions be made today. The great advances of the last quarter century have put us in position to take critical, timely steps forward. If we grasp the moment, we have the basis and the motivation to progress quickly.
The fundamental question is: Will we?
My task for this artwork was to research, understand, and visualize data sets with the goal of transforming them into a contemporary visual sign of warning.
The data used to create this image is derived from the work of scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado. The annual mean surface temperature changes were obtained from data compiled by the Copernicus Climate Change Service within the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Installed in the lobby of the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, this painting engages with thousands of the center’s annual visitors.
Thank you to my friend and mentor, Marwin Begaye, for helping with the installation. This is the first time installing a painting on a curved wall, Marwin helped calm my nerves. The NWC Facilities Management crew were also invaluable and made the installation feel easy.
