Art is an Important Tool to Create Public Engagement - Rosie Poirier
About Rosie Poirier
Rosie is a marine scientist, underwater photographer, and an artist. She grew up surrounded by the Great Lakes, but there was no ocean nearby. Her first engagements with the ocean were through stories and art. Once her interest in the ocean peaked, then she started to paint ocean scenes, ocean stories that I was reading about in the books online through movies. She speaks about how art can encourage public engagement and specifically how art can engage the public's understanding of the ocean.
Art Tourism -Creating Public Engagement
Rosie is always looking for new ways to create and engage with the audience that she hopes to reach. Art tourism started off as an experiment kind of to answer the question: How does the public want to engage with art and to what extent do they desire to engage? And what opportunity does art present for sharing ocean knowledge, sharing facts, for providing a real life opportunity for people to explore the world around them?
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00:00:04 Pam Ferris-Olson Today on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womenmindthewater.com, I'm speaking with Rosie Poirier. Rosie is a marine scientist, underwater photographer, and an artist. I was introduced to her in an ocean conservation networking group. There she suggested that community engagement can be encouraged through art.
00:00:28 Pam Ferris-Olson Welcome, Rosie. Please tell us more about how art can encourage public engagement and specifically how art can engage the public's understanding of the ocean.
00:00:43 Rosie Poirier Thank you so much for having me, Pamela. I'm happy to be here today. I think art has always been a very important tool for connection, for community development. Art invites engagement by inviting those who interact with it to consider its meaning, its purpose. A lot of art is actually collaborative as it brings stories together, it brings together different disciplines. So I've always seen art as a very important tool for public engagement. And we're seeing a lot of artists use it creatively and in this day and age to create opportunities for the public to come together.
00:01:28 Pam Ferris-Olson So when did you develop an interest in the ocean? Was it from a direct engagement with the ocean or was it an outgrowth of art?
00:01:37 Rosie Poirier So for me, art is really important in my career because I didn't grow up anywhere close to the ocean. I grew up in Ontario, very inland. I was surrounded by the Great Lakes, but we had no ocean nearby. So for me, my first engagements with the ocean were always through stories and art. And so a lot of movies, a lot of books. And then once my interest in the ocean peaked, then I started to paint ocean scenes, ocean stories that I was reading about in the books online through movies. And my way of exploring my interest was through art because I didn't have the opportunity to engage directly with the ocean. I could only paint to process what I was learning and to create that connection between myself and the ocean.
00:02:25 Pam Ferris-Olson That's really interesting. You know, I grew up near the ocean, and I'm trained as a biologist, so I'm a very hands-on: seeing, smelling, feeling. But to get that sensation through art is a very interesting thought process when you don't have the ability to kind of smell the sea water. So interesting. You were trained as an undergraduate in biology and environmental science at the University of Victoria in Canada. Were you exposed to the idea that art is a useful tool for science and communication?
00:03:11 Rosie Poirier Truthfully, not so much. When I was in university, I was very focused on labs, on my lectures, finding opportunities to be able to pursue research and science. And beyond doing PowerPoint presentations in our classes, art was not really touched upon during my undergraduate degree. But I did actually take a semester off.
00:03:31 Rosie Poirier I was already a diver. I was already a professional diver at that point. I had worked in the summers as a dive instructor. So diving was a big part of my kind of interaction with the ocean at that stage. And so I took a semester off during my second year of university and I went to the Philippines for six months. And I trained with an underwater production studio there, learned to do underwater photography and videography and worked for their studio. And that was my first introduction to really bringing art into my career in marine science. As I began to pursue photography and videography more, my desire to paint came back.
00:04:11 Rosie Poirier So while I was in university, normally I would paint in the late hours of the night after I was burnt out from studying but too wired to sleep. And I would pull out my paints, and there wasn't really any other opportunity for me to paint. But as I began to explore photography, then I had this itch to paint again. And I would take these photos and then be inspired to kind of recreate them or present them in a different form through painting. And my love began to blossom as I kind of stretched my creative potential. But a lot of that was happening kind of outside of my studies.
00:04:46 Pam Ferris-Olson That's amazing that you hadn’t grown up near the ocean and then you talked about being a professional diver in the Philippines, no less. That is a big shift. I'm impressed.
00:05:00 Pam Ferris-Olson So several of my previous guests, particularly Jill Pelto, Mariah Reading, and Parisa Golchubian, who by the way is Canadian, actively use art as a means of science communication. I think Parisa is the only one who has employed art in a collaborative way. So to help us understand how art can encourage both collaboration and engagement in marine conservation, tell us about one of your art projects. First define what you mean by art tourism and then how you encourage people to get involved.
00:05:37 Rosie Poirier In my creative exploration, I'm always looking for new ways to create and engage with the audience that I hope to reach. And so art tourism was an experiment of mine initially. I started it off as an experiment kind of to answer the question, what? How does the public want to engage with art and to what extent do they desire to engage? And what opportunity does art present for sharing ocean knowledge, sharing facts, for providing a real life opportunity for people to explore the world around them?
00:06:12 Rosie Poirier I had the idea for art tourism for a while, but I really thought that I had to kind of launch it in a big way, develop a collaboration with some kind of agency or business and really launch it. And finally I said, “You know what? I have to try it out myself and see if it even works.” So Art Tourism, the purpose was to encourage the public to explore the ocean around them.
00:06:32 Rosie Poirier Ocean Art Tourism was the first one that I ran, to explore the ocean around them through art. And so for a period of two weeks, what I did is I painted a piece every single day in a different coastal location in Victoria BC where I was living at the time. And then I would paint that piece on site and then I would film the process of painting it and then I would hide the piece somewhere in that park or with a business nearby and then post the piece online. I would post a little video with the instructions of where to find it and then the first person to find the piece would get to keep the piece and sometimes a prize would go along with it so I did about eight of the 14 drops. I collaborated with a local business and the other six I left in a public park in a visible area or in a hidden spot.
00:07:23 Rosie Poirier I was curious during this whole process whether or not people would actually want to engage in person with something that they're interacting with online. Was there a desire to be able to explore things in person even though that initial interaction is online? I was posting on Instagram and over time, the project gained traction and by the end of it, the paintings were getting scooped up within 30 minutes and sometimes people would try and find them.
00:07:50 Rosie Poirier And it was so much fun to do. I also met a lot of interesting people. I got to connect with local businesses during the process of doing art tourism. A lot of them were thrilled to be part of the project. [They’d say] “Oh, great.” “Yeah, sure.”
00:08:03 Rosie Poirier You know, you put a video online that showcases their business, some of them with the public parks, and it was to draw people out to a park nearby that maybe they had not been before. And each of the paintings was left with information about the site where it was left and some fun ocean facts. So I was really surprised with the engagement because I think a lot of time in this digital era we think like: “Oh maybe people aren't going to be drawn out and about.” But I think sometimes within this digital era people are actually craving that in-person connection or an opportunity to really engage with the environment, the community around them in person. So I was really impressed to see how many people participated in this first time experiment and very encouraged by the outcomes of the project.
00:08:50 Pam Ferris-Olson So what elements are necessary to encourage involvement and showcase ecological concepts?
00:08:58 Rosie Poirier I think in some ways I'm still answering that. I'm trying to answer that question myself through my art, through kind of the experimentation and the creative process. But I do think there has to be something that people connect to that they care about. So of course, you're trying to speak to the audience about some element that they care about. So maybe the motivation or the drive for some people would be the ocean. For others, it's arts. There's some people who love their art, enthusiasts and they love art. And then through art, then they find themselves learning or connecting to the ocean or vice versa.
00:09:34 Rosie Poirier Someone loves the ocean and therefore some art draws them because it speaks to that love for the ocean. So I think it depends on the project, it depends on the purpose and the outcome. But there are so many ways to tap into what people care about and what they're motivated by. And I think that that's part of the fun of art is that you're constantly kind of balancing that. And as an artist too, some of that is communicating what we love as an artist and what we crave to communicate as an artist. And some of that is also receiving, you know, that input and that interest from the world outside of us. So it becomes this like two-way reciprocal communication pathway.
00:10:23 Pam Ferris-Olson So I went to Las Vegas last year and I visited the Arte Museum, which has a lot of immersive art exhibits. One of the exhibits encouraged artists to color in an animal outline, and then that drawing was dropped into a continuous reading video. It was fun because I got to see my drawing become part of this video that was ongoing, but I don't think I learned anything from the experience. Do you think it is important for participants to lead with a product that they created, or is the experience enough to be impactful?
00:10:59 Rosie Poirier Often we're planting seeds, so not everything is going to be that moment of impact. But sometimes it can plant seeds. So you clearly remember that experience even though you didn't feel that you drew away from it and learned something. But maybe even the process of seeing your art become part of something collective that is then shared and viewed by many people as they go through the museum that day, that it becomes part of this collective piece that others are interacting with. It may have dropped a seed of interest to think: “Oh wow, what I create can continue and perpetuate, can continue to be an impact or it becomes part of a larger story and it planted the seed of how creativity continues and it ripples.”
00:11:43 Pam Ferris-Olson I think that's a very good explanation. I didn't really think about it, but I think you're right. So now you work as a communication specialist at the Marine Environment Observation, Prediction and Response Network. Boy, that's a mouthful. [laughter] The work you do is described as sharing ocean science stories and seeking funding for research. What is needed to create an impactful science story for a digital platform?
00:12:13 Rosie Poirier For us, it really depends on the audience that we're communicating with. And we're not always seeking to communicate with the same audience with each story. But often for us, with Marine Environment Observation, Prediction and Response Network, we're thinking about accessibility. So how to make that story accessible to the public. Because we don't just want to reach a research audience, we also want to reach an audience at large. So we want our stories to be inspiring and impactful beyond the immediate ocean research community. So we think about how to make that story accessible. And often that brings it back down to the values.
So what is it that people value? The broader public may value their well-being. They may value a healthy ocean because a healthy ocean is linked to their well-being. They may value community. And so when they see projects that involve the community. So Marine Environment Observation, Prediction and Response Network is very focused on community-led research right now. So a lot of our stories are linking back to that. And then the broader community begins to see themselves more in terms of research. So I think for us, it's really about being able to reflect those values and create a thread of connection that links our audience back to the story and allows that story to be more impactful for them.
00:13:24 Pam Ferris-Olson So success in capturing an audience online is measured in a highly compressed time period. What elements are most important for art to be successful in this kind of environment?
00:13:36 Rosie Poirier That's a great question. Sometimes you don't have a lot of time to make an impression on someone. But I do think even studying from advertisement and how advertisers let one poster or something speak volumes. And I think back even to how simple art, but spread widely, broadly, has had big impacts on how people view the world around them, the outcomes of elections.
00:14:05 Rosie Poirier For example, during Obama's campaign, there was an artist that created a kind of a stencil image of him with the simple word HOPE. And then this poster made its way all across America and connected. So when people got used to seeing Obama's image associated with hope, then automatically it created that connection in someone's mind that when they saw Obama, they would think of hope, even if it was involuntary. So I think with art, you don't always need a lot of time to create an impact. I think about all the moments that have impacted me. Sometimes it's been just a moment of seeing something that made me see the world differently or kind of challenged a perspective that I have.
00:14:46 Rosie Poirier So I think in that way, like with art tourism, I just hope that maybe it was something that people hadn't seen before. And that they would find themselves connected to it, that it invited engagement in a way that felt welcoming, that it sparked curiosity and a drive to learn more about the ocean space around them. So creating those touch points and not worrying too much about how long someone paused.
00:15:13 Pam Ferris-Olson What has been the most challenging aspect of working as a communication specialist in a digital world?
00:15:21 Rosie Poirier I think there's actually two challenges that come to mind. One of them is that people are faced with such a volume of information nowadays that it's hard to kind of make our way through the noise. There's a lot going on. People are constantly kind of being bombarded with information. So you have to be very streamlined often. And that can be challenging in a creative role because creativity is not always streamlined and clean and perfect. So I do find that challenging.
00:15:58 Rosie Poirier And the other thought that comes to mind is that the way that we reach people is changing very rapidly in this digital era. So a lot of communicators right now have to adapt very quickly to changing interests. And even right now, changing algorithms on a platform that completely change the way that your message is able to reach the audience from one day to the next, so that can prove a big challenge. But I think in some ways that also does open a lot of doors for creativity and experimentation, which is at the end of the day, what a storyteller and a creative, the environment that they can thrive in.
00:16:36 Rosie Poirier So with every challenge also is there's an opportunity kind of on the flip side. So I try and look at it that way. Not to say that I don't get frustrated at times, but I try and look at it too, with every challenge is an opportunity.
00:16:51 Pam Ferris-Olson Well, if somebody asks you how they could encourage people to make a difference, what would you tell them to do?
00:17:01 Rosie Poirier If someone were to ask me how to make a difference, I would say there's two ways. One is to really focus on your areas of, on your strengths and your areas of interest because you're able to make a difference ever greater when you find yourself working a way that is natural to your strengths, that you're working in your strengths. And then to collaborate, because we are able to magnify our power, collaboration opens so many doors. You find people with either complementing expertise or very different expertise from your own, but that you're able to combine your efforts and work together. And for me and my pursuit of art, I am very much driven by collaboration.
00:17:50 Rosie Poirier I love the initiatives where I get to work with others, where I get to work with the public, where I get to create opportunities for connection and collaboration. I had a wonderful experience as one of the featured artists for Ocean Week Canada in 2024, where I did an art exhibit outside of Ripley's Aquarium. And set up an interactive art piece where the public was able to engage. And that was fantastic because we had the opportunity to engage with the public. But I was also able to work with some of the other nonprofits that were featured at Ripley's Aquarium that day and talk about how to magnify their message and their efforts through the art piece and through communicating with the public. So I think, really, truly working in your strengths and collaborating with others is what I would really give as advice to others.
00:18:48 Pam Ferris-Olson All right, I am really grateful that you were able to make it on Wo(men) Mind the Water. And I want listeners to know that I've been speaking with Rosie Poirier. Rosie is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast.
The series can be viewed on womenmindthewater.com and YouTube. An audio-only version of this podcast and a transcript are available on womenmindthewater.com, on iTunes and Spotify.
00:19:18 Pam Ferris-Olson Wo(men) Mind the Water is grateful to Jaine Rice for their use of her song, Women of Water. All rights of the Wo(men) Mind the Water name and logo belong to Pam Ferris-Olson. This is Pam Ferris-Olson.
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