DETAILS

Join us for the latest Civic Minds + Creative Hearts Evening Series in honor of our current exhibit "Water Connects Us All". We invite community members to take a deeper dive into learning about the artistic and scientific endeavors of two Washington-based artists who have used their careers in the marine sciences as a catalyst for developing meaningful works of art with inspiring ocean conservation messages. Carla Stehr- Washington based artist, retired marine biologist, and author of "Sea Unseen: Scanning electron microscopy images from Puget Sound and beyond", published by the US Government Printing office in 2012 will present about how her fiber artwork is influenced by the microscopic images she photographed as a scientist. Stehr studied cells and tissues of marine organisms and photographed the complexity and beauty of aquatic organisms with a scanning electron microscope. Stehr grew up in Olympia and her work is primarily inspired by Puget Sound and Pacific Coast marine life. She has worked as a Marine Biologist for NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Exhibiting artist April Surgent will share the incredible backstory and the larger message she hopes to convey through her piece “Portrait of an Ocean” which is currently on display in the Esther Webster Gallery. April’s projects have taken her from Antarctica, as part of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, to Southwest Alaska with the U.S. Geological Survey, and to Hawaii where she worked as a field biologist for NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program. She currently lives and works on Washington State’s Quimper Peninsula. Enjoy time for mingling, two engaging presentations, light bites, and drinks for purchase from 6-8PM. Presentations start at 6:30PM. *Your event ticket goes directly towards offsetting the costs associated with the "Water Connects Us All" exhibit.