Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer and film director Christopher McQuarrie have both used the sky as a powerful element in their work, illustrating how weather plays a key role in visual storytelling. This theme was central at “It’s the Weather!,” an event held on February 7 at the Challenger Learning Center of Tallahassee as part of Florida State University’s Festival of the Creative Arts.
Stephanie Leitch, professor in FSU’s College of Fine Arts, delivered a presentation that traced 500 years of weather depiction in art. She discussed examples ranging from Renaissance etchings to contemporary films, including works by Giorgione and Caspar David Friedrich. “The landscape and atmospheric effects inform what we think about the subject of the art,” Leitch said.
Local fiber artist Kate Taylor presented her quilt titled “Whether you like it or not: A weather report for 2022 from Dogtown, Florida.” The piece represents daily weather data through fabric squares, each documenting high and low temperatures along with sky conditions. Taylor explained her approach: “We’ve always had a relationship with weather, but because we have air conditioning and heating now, we don’t connect to that need to understand weather as we used to.” She added, “With anything scientific, you have to keep good notes. That’s also the way art works. I ran out of fabric that was pre-dyed before I completed the quilt. I had to go back to my notes and then to the dye pot to complete this.”
The event drew local families interested in exploring creativity linked with meteorology. Zoila Curry attended with her children Sofy, Kosmo, and Aleena. “Art is big in our house,” Curry said. “This event was a cool way to show that you can tie art into anything, any aspect of life, even something like the weather.” Her husband Rafeeq Curry recently designed medals for an international athletics championship hosted in Tallahassee.
Children participated in hands-on activities inspired by artists such as Robert Siedel and scientist Wilson Bentley—known for photographing snowflakes—and created artworks using pastels and construction paper.
Abbygail DeVore, an FSU art therapy master’s student who volunteered at the event, noted that these projects help develop motor skills and creativity among young participants while giving university students experience working with children on age-appropriate artwork.
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service (NWS) Tallahassee office provided demonstrations with equipment such as temperature sensors and a six-foot-wide weather balloon—a display intended both for education about meteorological tools and public safety during storms.
The Festival of the Creative Arts continues on Tuesday, February 10 with an Arts-Health-Humanities Symposium at FSU’s Claude Pepper Center.
For more information about upcoming events or schedules related to FSU’s Festival of the Creative Arts visit their official website.
