Free, virtual event
Through the lens of the extraordinary work of Clifford Ross, the Portland Museum of Art and Gulf of Maine Research Institute will co-host an immersive, thought-provoking slate of public events throughout the Fall. We hope you'll dive below the surface with us!
Image: Clifford Ross (United States, born 1952), Hurricane XVII, 2000, archival pigment print on Japanese-style Gampi paper, 15 1/8 x 19 1/4 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Ryan Lee Gallery © Clifford Ross
Join community representatives from a variety of scientific and artistic disciplines as they reflect on the hurricane waters captured by Clifford Ross. Panelists will share perspectives on the qualities of water, meteorology, recreation, photography, and conservation as they examine what is visible and invisible in the waves.
Included on the panel is Dave Reidmiller, the Director of the Climate Center at GMRI, Ivy Frignoca, chief advocate for Casco Bay, Jan Piribeck, artist and professor emeritus, University of Southern Maine Art Department, and John Cannon, marine program manager at the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
Dave Reidmiller is the Director of the Climate Center at GMRI, where he draws across the breadth of the organization to help people, communities, and businesses understand and anticipate how climate change affects them. Prior to joining GMRI, Dave served in a variety of senior positions for the federal government, including most recently as a climate advisor to the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team. As Acting Director of the Northeast and Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASC) with the U.S. Geological Survey, he oversaw a unique partnership between the federal government and university consortia to advance and deliver science to help fish, wildlife, habitat, and people adapt to a changing climate. Before joining the CASC Network, Dave directed the Fourth National Climate Assessment as part of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he coordinated the work of 300+ volunteer experts from across the country in an effort to understand and address climate risks facing the nation. Dr. Reidmiller has deep international experience, as well, having served as the State Department's Chief Climate Scientist for five years under the Obama Administration, where he led U.S. engagement in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and was the lead U.S. science and technology negotiator for the Paris Agreement. Dave also served as a Fellow in the U.S. Senate where he advised Senator Mark Udall on a range of energy, environment, and public lands issues, as well as a Mirzayan Fellow at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
As Casco Baykeeper, Ivy Frignoca is the chief advocate for Casco Bay. In speaking passionately on behalf of the Bay, she is able to draw on her experiences, including as an environmental educator, an advocate for Vermont’s public lands and Lake Champlain, and most recently, as a Senior Attorney with Conservation Law Foundation. Her previous work on oceans, clean water, and clean air issues throughout New England provides her with in-depth knowledge of the issues she continues to confront, including ocean acidification, excess nitrogen, and reducing wastewater discharges and stormwater runoff.
Jan Piribeck is an artist and professor emeritus, University of Southern Maine Art Department. She holds an MFA in Visual Art from Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL. The focus of her current work is on an interdisciplinary project that looks at the impacts of changing ecologies on coastal communities in Maine and Greenland through art and shared experience. She is a founding member of the King Tide Party, an artists' collective that hosts parties to observe tidal inundation in Portland and Casco Bay. Her work has been featured in exhibitions such as Anthropocenic: Art About the Natural World in the Human Era, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME and Meltdown, an exhibition of artists whose work was based in the Arctic or Antarctica, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME.
John Cannon is the marine program manager at the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine. He is interested in forecasting and researching the impacts of large, battering waves triggered by New England Nor’easters. Having lived along the changing shoreline of Southern Maine, John has a deep appreciation for our eroding beaches."
This event is part of a new partnership with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) and the Portland Museum of Art (PMA). Together GMRI and PMA invite our communities to explore the power of water and the impacts of sea level rise through artistic and scientific perspectives.
