Artist and scientist Jill Pelto hopes to inspire people to take action by imbuing her dreamy paintings with hard scientific data and field research.
I posted an article, and some images, several months ago of Jill Pelto’s art. But this article has some new art. It’s worth a repeat. Here’s some of her art. Link into the article to read her story.
Little side note to give this post some context. Over the weekend, I participated in a climate change research seminar and field work studying joshua trees and piñon pines in Joshua Tree National Park. Dr. Cameron Barrows, who is one of the lead researchers on the effects on climate change in the desert environment, was doing his usual lecture, showing us data and charts and graphs. But he inserted a poem into his presentation, written by a woman from England who did some citizen-scientist work in Joshua Tree National Park earlier this year. She came into the research perceiving the desert to be a horrible, desolate place with no life. She left with a 180 degree turn, and wrote a poem about what she then realized a desert to be, as a place full of life. Dr. Barrows told us, completely correctly, that art can add a gloss to science that we all need to appreciate the science.
‘Landscape of Change’ was painted using data about sea level rise, glacier volume decline, increasing global temperatures and the rise in fossil fuel usage. (Photo: Jill Pelto)
‘Habitat Degradation: Arctic Melt’ depicts Arctic sea ice data from 1980 to present. (Photo: Jillian Pelto)
‘Habitat Degradation: Deforestation’ depicts the plight of tigers using data showing the decline in rainforest area from 1970 to 2010. (Photo: Jillian Pelto)
‘Increasing Forest Fire Activity’ uses global temperature rise information to illustrate how harsh drought conditions affect forested regions. (Photo: Jillian Pelto)
‘Salmon Population Decline’ draws population data from the Coho salmon of the North Pacific. (Photo: Jillian Pelto)
‘Decrease in Glacier Mass Balance’ uses data from a group of North Cascade, WA glaciers from 1980-2014. (Photo: Jillian Pelto)
‘Habitat Degradation: Ocean Acidification’ depicts the decreasing pH (meaning increasing acidity) in oceans from 1998 to 2012. (Photo: Jillian Pelto)
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