Linda Megathlin (left) discusses her sea level rise map of Bristol County with attendees at a walking tour of Warren that highlighted community efforts for coastal resilience.
Walking through Warren, Rhode Island, you don’t just see the town’s history, you see its possible future, thanks to Linda Megathlin’s artful renderings of rising seas.
Megathlin created a map of projected sea level rise in Bristol County by integrating technical maps produced by GIS tools with her artistic vision. Located downtown, the Warren Art Walkway across from Imago Gallery hosts panels displaying her map and other climate education information. In collaboration with the Warren Arts and Cultural Commission and The Avenue Concept, the display includes Megathlin’s map and excerpts from writing by Mount Hope High School students about the effects and their lived experiences of sea level rise.
Megathlin credited Teresa Crean, former Barrington director of planning, building, and resiliency, for guidance in sea level rise inundation projections and aerial photographs provided by the URI Environmental Data Center and STORMTOOLS. Ensuring that her project was grounded in the best available science, she described her inspiration for the project: “As a resident of Warren, I’ve seen a lot of change over time along the coast, and so I was interested, as an artist, in trying to explore the idea of rising seas, and how we could help the community understand more about it and realize that it was a real threat.”
Megathlin’s “Upper Warren Into Barrington” is a sea level rise projection map with phragmites, a pervasive wetland grass. © Linda Megathlin
Her process began with journalistic-style photography, capturing local marshlands, vegetation, and other coastal features. Working with aerial photographs of the East Bay provided by URI and projections from STORMTOOLS, she transformed these scientific images into layered artworks by blending them with her own photographs. “It was a technically challenging project,” said Megathlin, “to make sure it was accurate in terms of what the inundation would actually be as sea levels changed over time.”
Megathlin incorporated pieces of the overall map of Bristol County and developed an “imaginary look at what these places might look like,” showing familiar landscapes transformed by water. Her art adds human dimension to scientific data and turns projections into something people can see and feel, highlighting community resilience efforts in Warren. To see more of Megathlin’s work, visit her website.
This walk was part of community engagement on shoreline access and Warren resilience efforts, particularly an NSF-funded project led by URI Professor Emi Uchida with outreach support provided by Rhode Island Sea Grant’s Eliza Berry.
Related Links
- Linda Megathlin’s Website
- STORMTOOLS can map and project storm and sea level rise inundation at any given point in time
- URI’s press release for weather-related tools
- ESRI: GIS software for mapping and spatial analytics
- HERE mapping technology website
- RIGIS: Rhode Island Geographic Information System
- URIEDC: Provides information on the water quality of surface water resources throughout Rhode Island
- Warren Arts and Culture Commission Website
- The Avenue Concept Website
- RI Monthly Story “Warren Raises Awareness About Sea Level Rise through Public Art”
Other stories about this Warren walk:
–Sophia Milman, Rhode Island Sea Grant Communications Intern