Provincetown, MA – The Center for Coastal Studies has named Mark Adams as the first Scientist/Artist-In-Residence. Employed by the Cape Cod National Seashore as a cartographer for 30 years, Adams has collaborated frequently on CCS projects as a scientist. Now the Center is thrilled to establish a new chapter in the partnership and Adams will create public programs that merge the Center’s scientific work with the creative arts.
Adams’ first CCS program will be with the Fine Arts Work Center on Feb. 3 as part of the FAWC First Friday series where he will create a map of the land and sea that highlights areas of our research and invite participants to add their own words or artwork.
“I love the idea of creating new knowledge by combining art and science,” said Sarah Oktay, Center for Coastal Studies Executive Director. “Uniting the creative processes with science has been part of the Organization of Biological Field Stations initiatives and is regaining momentum with Nancy Lowe leading a new group of interested FSMLs to build upon the prior work of the #ArtSciConverge collaborative (artsciconverge.blogspot.com/) Faerthen Felix and Jeff Brown, formerly of Sagehen Creek Field Station, led for OBFS. Given that we are located in Provincetown, Massachusetts where art is part of the fabric of the community makes perfect sense for the Center.”
Adams, who has been based on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard since 1987, said his experience in ecology, coastal geology, scientific illustration and field sketchbooks was evident in the 2017 solo museum exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association Museum, “Expedition”and a 2021 installation at the Cape Cod Museum of Art: “11,000 years of Landscapes and People of the First Light.”
After leaving the National Park Service last year, his focus is on using painting, printmaking and public art installations to instigate an immersive experience of the marine environment. Adams’ art features layered images of maps, personal notebook pages, text, data and images of animals and friends. Adams’ volunteer work with refugee relief organizations has spurred his interest in the intersection of climate change and human ecology. He studied biology, landscape architecture, printmaking and photography at the University of California, Berkeley, the California College of the Arts and he frequently workshops with artists at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
Adams also teaches at the Castle Hill Center for the Arts (Truro MA), the Fine Art Work Center, the Provincetown Art & Artist’s Museum and the Provincetown School.
Located in Provincetown since 1976, the Center for Coastal Studies is a marine lab dedicated to understanding, preserving and protecting marine ecosystems and the coastal environment. Find out more at www.coastalstudies.org.
