Art & Inspiration

L to R: Deepscape Phthalo | Oceanographer Susan Merle's Bathymetry | Multibeam Compass Rose #8 by Lauren Salm

Lauren Salm: Bathymetry-Inspired Art

Lauren working in the R/V Falkor’s dry lab, creating watercolour interpretations of the multibeam sonar acquisition display screens that show the seafloor mapping in real time.

During the summer of 2018, Lauren Salm was a participating artist on the Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falkor during a seafloor mapping transit along the Cascadia Margin.

As the daughter of a marine ecologist, Lauren has always been passionate about the ocean and marine conservation, and the trip aboard the Falkor helped spark her interest in seafloor mapping and bathymetry, inspiring a series of bathymetry-themed paintings.

About the parallel between the art of seafloor mapping and her own work, Lauren says:

"We start with a blank canvas and only a faint idea of what might lie deep below the ocean surface or what can be created, and neither actually ever evidenced before for human eyes. It is the process that determines what materializes, and suddenly the monochromatic deep blue becomes a colorful expression of ridges and canyons, deep dips and escalating slopes, seeping seafloor and rising bubbles. Just as the burnt umber stain of my flat canvas transforms into a colored creation."

Lauren learned about Marie Tharp in 2019, and was shocked by how little-known and under-recognized she is despite her important contributions to science. This prompted Lauren to reach out to Lamont-Doherty to participate in celebrating Marie Tharp's 100th birthday, using the arts to help galvanize awareness and interest around Marie Tharp, women in science and the arts, seafloor mapping, and the depths of our oceans.

Lauren Salm: Website | Instagram | Email

For all artwork purchase inquiries, please contact Lauren directly.

Lori Hepner: Photography, Performance, and Light Art

Lori performing a light painting piece on the aft deck of R/V Falkor.

During the summer of 2018, Lori Hepner was a participating artist on the Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falkor during a seafloor mapping transit along the Cascadia Margin. 

"My recent art-making focus has been on experiencing excursions across climate-threatened landscapes, and then thinking about how personal experience and memory twists the remembered experiences of these journeys. By combining body movement, my landscape photographs, and LED technology, I have striven to create new abstracted landscapes as two-dimensional photographic light paintings."

Lori Hepner: Website | Instagram

For all artwork inquiries, please contact Lori directly.

Light painting based on mapping data by Lori Hepner

Light painting based on mapping data by Lori Hepner.
Light painting based on mapping data by Lori Hepner.
Light painting based on mapping data by Lori Hepner.

Lizzy Taber: Visualizing the Earth's Surface

Lizzy in the control room of the Falkor learning about multi sonar mapping methods.

During the summer of 2018, Lizzy Taber was a participating artist on the Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falkor during a seafloor mapping transit along the Cascadia Margin.

To See the Change of Color is an installation that includes 100 paintings. Each painting represents 1% of the earth's surface. Lizzy wanted to visualize the statistics of how little had been mapped of the seafloor in 2018. The colorful pieces were created with maps that were made aboard during her artist residency on the Falkor.

To See the Change of Color by Lizzy Tabor

To See the Change of Color by Lizzy Tabor
To See the Change of Color by Lizzy Tabor
To See the Change of Color by Lizzy Tabor

The Cartographer of the Unknown series includes cyanotype of images taken on the Falkor and data from bathymetry along with intuitive drawings, paintings, and screen prints on top.

"As I parallel the ideas of the unknown mysteries of our seafloor with the human experience, I begin to find parallels to the process of map making." 

Lizzy Taber: Website | Instagram

For all artwork inquiries, please contact Lizzy directly.

Cartographer of the Unknown Series by Lizzy Taber

 

 

Cartographer of the Unknown Series
Cartographer of the Unknown Series
Cartographer of the Unknown Series