Central College’s Mills Gallery is hosting “Rising Waters,” an exhibition of 13 vibrant, intricate woven sculptures and collages by Boston artist Nathalie Miebach. The exhibit also features musical scores to accompany two of the sculptures.
Miebach’s work explores the intersection of art and science by translating scientific data from meteorology, ecology and oceanography into 3D woven sculptures and musical scores. Through the use of basket weaving grids and other striking visual and musical elements, Miebach interprets complex science topics such as climate change and recent catastrophic weather events of hurricanes and flooding. Her use of everyday materials presents traditional scientific data such as graphs and diagrams into provoking combinations between the art of science and the science of art.
An award-winning national and international artist, Miebach is the 2018 Central College Allison B. Allen artist-in-residence. Her on-campus residency during the week of March 19 includes a public workshop and artist’s talk and reception, as well as conversations with students in art and education classes. In a public workshop Monday, March 19, Miebach will teach use of her art and science techniques. Participants will have the opportunity to create individual works. Preregistration is required by contacting Mills Gallery Director Treva Reimer at reimert@central.edu or 641-628-5334.
On Tuesday, March 20, Mills Gallery will host a reception and talk by the artist beginning at 5:30 p.m. The recipient of numerous awards and residencies, Miebach has shown her work nationally and internationally, and been reviewed in fine arts, design and technology publications. A graduate of Oberlin College, she also earned a master’s of fine arts degree in sculpture and a master’s in art education from Massachusetts College of Art.
Miebach’s Central College campus residency is made possible through an endowed fund created by former Central administrator Hutch Bearce and Gretchen Bearce. The annual residency seeks “artists who have a new, interdisciplinary approach to bring to campus,” Reimer said. The “Rising Waters” exhibition also supports an interdisciplinary theme on the Central campus throughout the 2017-2018 academic year focused on water’s role in the world, with a faculty lecture series, student readings and exhibitions.
“Rising Waters” is open to the public in Mills Gallery, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, from now through March 4 and from March 17 to March 29. To see the exhibit during Central’s spring break, March 5-16, please contact the conferences and events office at 641-628-7642. Mills Gallery is located in the Lubbers Center for the Visual Arts on the north perimeter of the Central College campus.
Central College is a private, residential four-year liberal arts college known for its academic rigor and strength in global experiential learning, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), sustainability education, athletics success and tradition, and leadership and service, located in Pella, Iowa.
