Our Ocean - Bringing marine climate data to life

Transform data into stories and artworks, in an immersive workshop exploring ocean climate change. Capture visual stories of local marine species that givemeaning to scientific data and enhance the visibility of our changing ocean and the threat this poses to local marine life. Enhance your art with local and global data, as well as collecting your own data using plankton tows, microscopes, and more. Learn and develop art skills with a guest artist, as we work towards creating a 2024 calendar and online art collection. No art or science experience necessary!

The oceans are at the heart of our warming planet, with long-term changes underway that are radically altering the marine environment, and threatening species that we treasure locally. Unlike plastic pollution and industrial fishing, many of these changes are not so clearly visible, yet they are even more serious. With greater visibility, would collective ambition to tackle our ocean climate crisis be strengthened? 

This workshop takes place at the NZ Marine Studies Centre in Portobello, overlooking the spectacular Otago Harbour. Scientists have been collecting a treasure trove of data here for almost 70 years, but for this data to have impact it needs to be shared in accessible ways. As a community, we seek to empower change through visual imagery that resonates with greater meaning for our society. We hope that this may encourage action.  

You will have the chance to explore some of the latest ocean climate data collected at Portobello and across New Zealand; collect a little of your own; and transform this into something more visual. We will be joined by artist Pam McKinley who will guide us through some mixed media art techniques and projects, as we work together to create visualisations of climate data. No artistic or science skills are needed, this is for everyone! Any creations that you are happy to share will be part of an open-access online collection, and a published calendar for 2024  

This workshop is part of a series of four workshops, held over 12 months. Each workshop will be stand-alone but with a strong connection to previous workshops. While it is not compulsory to attend all workshops, we encourage you to attend as many as possible! 

If you have attended the previous workshop, you can bring along your previous artwork and/or your calendar contribution pieces!

Light lunch, tea and coffee will be provided

For ages 14 years and up

Image by Dr Cathy Cole from the 2022 calendar