Jill Pelto, Increasing Forest Fire Activity, 2015.

Size, NA. Medium, Watercolor and Colored Pencil. Price, $45.00.

MLA: Pelto, Jill. “Increasing Forest Fire Activity,” Jillpelto.com, 2015, www.jillpelto.com/increasing-forest-fire-activity. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Additional Information:

Quoted directly from the official website in explanation of piece:Increasing Forest Fire Activity uses global temperature rise information. Fortunately, I was not near any of the massive forest fires that raged before, during, and after my two weeks in Washington summer 2015, but I was greeted with many smoke-filled days. On some days, when the winds blew from the fire toward us, the smell and taste of the smoke overpowered my senses, even though the fire was about 100 miles away. As temperatures increase, and drought and drier than average conditions persist, forest fires become a huge threat to the forest, plants, animals—and of course to people and structures.

Jill Pelto, Gulf of Maine Temperature Variability, 2016.

Size, NA. Medium, Watercolor and Colored Pencil. Price, $20.00.

MLA: Pelto, Jill. “Gulf of Maine,” Jillpelto.com, 2016, www.jillpelto.com/gulf-of-maine. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Additional Information:

Quoted directly from the official website in explanation of piece:Gulf of Maine Temperature Variability tells the story of increasing temperature fluctuations in Maine’s coastal marine environment. The watercolor uses ocean temperature data from the past 15 years to highlight how greater variability affects various species including ourselves. The piece also highlights the inattention to the coupled relationship between human action and environmental responses that has contributed to depleted fish stocks and increased ocean acidification. This Gulf of Maine story spans the water column: from the burrowing clams and bottom-dwelling lobster and shrimp, to the overfished cod which disappear across the painting as they struggle to return to a changing habitat, and finally up to the surface where fishers and managers may adopt sustainable practices or continue the practices that have resulted in overfishing and by-catch. Each species has a complex interaction with the environment, and if the imbalance of our give-and-take relationship with the ocean persists, we will continue to see new stresses that irreversibly change ocean conditions within the intertidal mudflats and into the yet unexplored ocean depths.

Jill Pelto, Overgrown, 2019.

Size, NA. Medium, Watercolor and Colored Pencil. Price, $40.00.

MLA: Pelto, Jill. “Overgrown,” Jillpelto.com, 2019, www.jillpelto.com/overgrown. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Additional Information:

Quoted directly from the official website in explanation of piece:Overgrown depicts how the composition of Maine plant species may shift geographically as climate zones change. Four data lines cut across the image to represent the different climate scenarios projected from 2000-2100 by the World Climate Research Program. The data are high-low temperature projections that may determine which species thrive and where. The top of the work provides a scenario with which many are familiar. Here, plant species already common to Maine thrive. They include the Eastern white pine, red spruce, twin flower, bunch berry, and Canada lily. While these species also appear in the scenario on the bottom of the work, they appear in lower proportions due to decreased temperature suitability. Here, species commonly found further south begin to emerge and thrive where they had not before. They include the tulip tree, shooting star flower, and the crimsoneyed rosemallow. This geographic shift in plant composition is largely dependent upon the amount and speed of atmospheric warming. As Maine residents bear witness to the plant species overgrown by others, the very idea of an ecological community will change.

Jill Pelto, Habitat Degradation, Ocean Acidification, 2015.

Size, NA. Medium, Watercolor and Colored Pencil. Price, $50.00.

MLA: ---. “Habitat Degradation: Ocean Acidification,” Jillpelto.com, 2015, www.jillpelto.com/ocean-acidification. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Additional Information:

Quoted directly from the official website in explanation of piece:Habitat Degradation: Ocean Acidification contains ocean pH data from 1998 to 2012. The decreasing pH is due to atmospheric carbon dissolving into the ocean, and creating carbonic acid, which means a more acidic ocean. This has harmful effects on all marine life. Studies on clownfish show that more acidic water alters how their brains’ process information. This affects their ability to avoid predators by detecting noises and find their way home. Ocean water has a lower pH than a fish’s cells, so they take in carbonic acid in order to be in harmony with their environment. Even a small drop in pH requires fish to expend much more energy in order to equilibrate, and this energy is taken from other necessary functions. The clownfish in my watercolor are grouped in confusion, separated from the anemone in which they live. The oceans may be vast, but if pH drops globally, there is literally nowhere marine life can go, they are confined to the water.

Jill Pelto, Habitat Degradation, Deforestation, 2015.

Size, NA. Medium, Watercolor and Colored Pencil. Price: $50.00.

MLA: ---. “Habitat Degradation: Deforestation,” Jillpelto.com, 2015, www.jillpelto.com/deforestation. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Additional Information:

Quoted directly from the official website in explanation of piece: “Habitat Degradation: Deforestation uses data showing the decline in rainforest area from 1970 to 2010. These lush ecosystems are disappearing before our eyes, and with them, millions of beautiful species. I’m quite certain that anyone would agree that a tiger is a magnificent creature, yet how many people realize that they are critically endangered? For this series I chose to separate the animals from their habitat, because that is ultimately what we are doing. The tiger is trapped outside the forest, cornered. He is defensive and angry that we are sealing his fate.”

Jill Pelto works to create pieces that will connect both the scientifically inclined and artistically inclined, in one understanding that climate change and human impact on earth is a major concern for the present and the future. I personally love the idea of incorporating scientific graphs into her works of art, bringing a sort of sense that what she is depicting is real. The facts are indeed right there, and they take the form of reality in front of you. Throughout the years, she has added to her official website, and so it can be seen that she has developed how she creates her art. All of her publicly shared art has been about the impact of human habitation in places where animals are at risk.

 Examining individual art, the differences in each piece empathizes the detailed care Pelto gives to each work. For one, she’ll focus on wildfires, while another will be focused on human-caused deforestation. The wide range of topics she chooses to care for all demonstrate her focus on nature and its rapid change. The way she’s able to use colored pencils for defined lines that pop out of the watercolor in order to show the data along with the scenery is an effective way to showcase her talent along with researcher’s she’s partnered with hard work.

One personal favorite of the five works showcased is the piece titled Overgrown, which values detail and individual species of plants. This piece is meant to demonstrate the changing definition of “ecological communities”, as more species of plant are effected by rising temperatures and the way and location they grow. The northern and southern locations on either side of the border represent previously separated ecosystems, which now have similar or even identical plants in each. This is a phenomenon previously extremely uncommon, but recent globally rising temperatures has given way to more room for plants of certain communities to grow in different manners.

Bibliography

“Jill Pelto.” Jill Pelto, www.jillpelto.com/ . Accessed 4 Oct. 2021.

Pelto, Jill. Climate Change Artist. Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/jillpelto/?hl=en. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Magazine, Smithsonian, and Marissa Fessenden. “These Watercolor Paintings Actually Include Climate Change Data.” Smithsonian Magazine, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/these-watercolor-paintings-actually-include-climate-change-data-180958374/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Pelto, Jill. “Increasing Forest Fire Activity,” Jillpelto.com, 2015, www.jillpelto.com/increasing-forest-fire-activity. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Pelto, Jill. “Gulf of Maine,” Jillpelto.com, 2016, www.jillpelto.com/gulf-of-maine. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

Pelto, Jill. “Overgrown,” Jillpelto.com, 2019, www.jillpelto.com/overgrown. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

---. “Habitat Degradation: Ocean Acidification,” Jillpelto.com, 2015, www.jillpelto.com/ocean-acidification. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.

---. “Habitat Degradation: Deforestation,” Jillpelto.com, 2015, www.jillpelto.com/deforestation. Accessed 5 Oct. 2021.