Julie Sperling is a mosaic artist with a background in science (environmental science and geography), who makes beautiful mosaics, often with inspiration from science.
In 2014 she began a series of mosaics titled Fiddling While Rome Burns about climate change. What an appropriate title for the situation we find ourselves in, particularly in 2017, with a president who refuses to even believe in climate change. Julie tackles a variety of topics related to climate change including black carbon, oil spills, sea ice decline in the Arctic and so much more. One of my favorites is her mosaic Weather is Not Climate, which represents how people often confuse weather and climate, and illustrates the natural variations in weather compared to the overall long term trends in climate.
One of the best parts about her site is her in-depth discussions and explanations that accompany each piece. Not only do these descriptions help the viewer to understand each mosaic in more depth, they also serve as engaging and clear communications about the climate change topic each piece addresses. You can enjoy her beautiful art and learn something about climate change, too. I started this blog precisely because I believe that communicating about climate change has to be more than scientific facts, and Julie’s work and her efforts at communication illustrate this idea perfectly.
I had a hard time picking which of her mosaic photos to feature here (I chose Weather is Not Climate) because they are all incredible, so go to her web site and her Instagram to see more of her work. Seriously, go now.
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