Art exhibit on Tumamoc Hill invites visitors to wax poetic about climate change

Starting Saturday, hikers on Tumamoc Hill can also exercise their creativity with a collaborative art installation designed to get people thinking about climate change.

The University of Arizona Poetry Center and the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill are teaming up for what they’re calling “Future Climate Proverbs for a Changing Desert Environment.”

The exhibit features four slate tablets placed along the walking path so visitors to the hill can use chalk to write their own predictive sayings about the desert and the weather.

“The goal is to really engage the community to be observant in this space where we find ourselves,” said Ben Wilder, director of the UA’s Desert Laboratory.

Proverbs have been used to help people predict the weather since biblical times — think “red sky at night, shepherd’s delight,” first referenced in the Book of Matthew.

The tablets on Tumamoc invite people to literally fill in the blank after such open-ended phrases as “When heat of summer is struck with thunder,” or “If winter storm clouds coolly gather,” then snap a picture of their creations and post them to social media with the hashtag #FutureClimateProverbs.

Organizers expect new perspectives to emerge from applying the long tradition of weather proverbs to the uncertain future of our altered environment.

“By looking backward and forward simultaneously, we hope to provide new ways for people to see the changing weather in Tucson and around the world,” said project lead Jonathon Keats in a written statement. “In order to counter complacency about climate change, we need to be sensitive to shifting baselines.”

Wilder added that Tumamoc Hill is the “ideal place to make these observations through space and time” because it draws so many regular visitors.

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Two of the slate tablets are in English, one is in Spanish and the one at the top of the hill is in O’odham. The proverb prompts on the tablets were written by Keats and local poets Raquel Gutiérrez and Ofelia Zepeda.

Wilder said Tumamoc’s team of volunteer docents will help keep the slates clean and stocked with chalk while policing them for graffiti and inappropriate language.

He is hoping the project will generate some unexpected entries beyond what he called “the fear-based response” to change. He said he wants to hear from people who are “looking for the beauty in it, too.”

For Saturday’s premiere of the exhibit, Tucson’s Cream Design & Print will set up at the Tumamoc Hill boathouse from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to screen-print weather proverbs onto people’s T-shirts, tote bags and other light-colored fabrics at no cost. The first 200 participants will receive a complimentary proverb-printed shirt.

Keats will be at the boathouse at the base of the hill from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to offer drop-in workshops on writing proverbs.

In the coming weeks, Wilder said, they hope to add smartphone QR codes to the installation that will link visitors to language translations of the slate tablets and connect them to a digital space where they can share more of their climate proverbs.

The exhibit itself is expected to remain up for the next year at least, he said.