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SAiA: As an artist, you have formal training
in sculpture and ceramics as well as an M.A. in
environmental studies. How did you come to
combining art and science in the first place?
CM: I’ve always enjoyed creating art and
have been fascinated by the marine environment since my childhood along the California
coast, but I first began combining art and science as a student at San Francisco University
High School. In my first marine biology class,
I quickly realized that I am a
three-dimensional
learner and it was
difficult for me to
fully understand
the anatomy of the
organisms I was
studying without
sculpting them. I
had already taken a
few ceramics classes
so it felt natural for
me to turn to clay
and begin recreating marine invertebrates.

still serve as inspiration for my sculptural work
today. I developed an aesthetic appreciation for
the extraordinary forms of reef invertebrates
and I was thrilled to realize that the chemical
makeup (not to mention delicate brittle nature)
of reef-building coral skeletons is similar to that
of the clay I use to sculpt them. I dove into
(and continue to keep up with) the most current literature on human-caused threats to coral
reefs and other ocean ecosystems and became
deeply alarmed by the worsening impacts of our
greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and
over fishing.
Above all, I came to
understand that my
work could change
people’s minds. Art
has a unique potential
to inspire environmental conservation
by appealing to our
minds and our hearts
in ways that scientific data alone often
cannot. My understanding of SciArt
(or “ArtScience”) has
shifted in my work
from a selfish exploration of the anatomy of
marine invertebrates
to "Artivism"—art
as a call to action.
As greenmuseum.org
founder Sam Bower
says, “Art has a job to
do.” Art can inspire us
to save the ocean.

As college application time rolled
around, I felt like
I needed a school
that would let me
pursue this threedimensional method of biological
illustration that I
had just discovered.
Our Changing Seas: A coral reef story (2011) at the Department of
Skidmore College
Commerce and NOAA in April 2011. Glazed stoneware, porcelain
ended up being the
and terra cotta; wood; steel; enamel and acrylic paints; epoxy. Image
© Derek Parks, NOAA.
SAiA: Could you talk
perfect place for my
a bit about the conkind of interdisciplinary work since it offers a “Self-Determined Ma- ception and making of your piece Our Changing
Seas: A coral reef story?
jor” through which I was able to combine my
emerging strengths as an artist and a scientist
CM: By the time I became a master’s candidate
into a single pursuit that was greater than the
sum of its parts. I explored the marine environ- in environmental studies at Brown University in
2009, I knew that I was onto something with
ment (particularly coral reefs) as both a biolothis idea of SciArt for marine conservation and
gist and a sculptor, melding art with ecology as
I had to do something huge. I was fortunate to
much as I possibly could. I did fieldwork with
be able to work between Brown and the Rhode
leading researchers on the Great Barrier Reef
during my semester abroad in Australia in 2007 Island School of Design with members of my
thesis committee at each school, allowing me to
and collected underwater photographs that
explore the potential for art to inspire coral reef

SciArt in America December 2013

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