“Rising Seas” includes artwork by featured IFA artist Linda Megathlin, other IFA exhibiting artists, and guest artist Mark Holme. Focusing on the topic of projected sea level rise and in response to a public call for art for this exhibit, guest juror Chris Sancomb selected an additional 24 artworks from a pool of over 50 submitted pieces.  Sancomb is a Rhode Island artist who has a hybrid practice in design and studio arts that explores the intersection of art and science through materials and form.

Megathlin has created her photo-based artwork from aerial maps, shape files of scientifically projected inundations from sea level rise, and photographs of the Bristol County shoreline that were combined to visually communicate the sea level that is rising and the expected 100-year storm flooding projected for Bristol County, Rhode Island.

A large-scale, wall-mounted map showing the projected inundations from sea level rise and 100-year storms in Bristol County that could occur from 2050 – 2100 will be in the gallery as a visual anchor to help visitors interpret the related art in the gallery.

Holme is a sculptor, painter, illustrator and award-winning designer with over 30 years experience as a professional in the visual arts field. For the past several years, he has focused on understanding and depicting the motion and anatomy of wildlife in his wire sculptures. He says, “I enjoy telling a story in my work –whether it’s a seal playfully swimming through a pod of jellyfish or the stance of a blue heron on the hunt. I continue to learn something about each animal and how best to represent it in its form and motion with every piece I create.”