News & Events Nathalie Miebach and Elaine Rombola to Present Tuning in—Musical Variations on Weather March 10 at the Mead Art Museum

March 3, 2009
Contact: Karen Cardinal
Accounting, Web and Marketing Manager, Mead Art Museum
413/542-2551

AMHERST, Mass.—On Tuesday, March 10, at 4:30 p.m. in the Mead Art Museum, Nathalie Miebach, artist in residence in Amherst College’s Department of Art and the History of Art, and pianist Elaine Rombola will present the collaborative piece Tuning in – Musical Variations on Weather, Miebach’s translation of weather data into woven sculptural forms and music. Free and open to the public, the event is co-sponsored by the Department of Art and the History of Art and the Department of Music and made possible at the Mead with support from the Amherst Arts Series and the Hall and Kate Peterson Fund.

Using basket-weaving, Miebach reveals behavioral relationships between different weather elements—temperature and humidity, for example—based upon data gathered from specific sites at set intervals of time. In her latest body of work, she integrates musical notation to further explore the nuance of data translation, resulting in sculptures that function as three-dimensional musical scores. In collaboration with Rombola, a New England-based professional pianist and teacher, Miebach further interprets meteorological data and patterns through sound.

“We are thrilled to host Professor Miebach and Ms. Rombola,” said Elizabeth Barker, Director and Chief Curator at the Mead. “Their collaboration represents the type of experimental, interdisciplinary work the Mead aims to foster and promote.”
 
Miebach holds both a Master of Art Education degree and Master of Fine Arts degree from Massachusetts College of Art. She is the recipient of numerous awards—most recently the International Sculpture 2006 Outstanding Student Award—and has shown her work nationally to positive review in Art In America and Sculpture Magazine. Current and upcoming exhibitions can be seen at the Spencer Art Museum; the Museum of Science, Boston; Reeves Contemporary Gallery; and the Fuller Craft Museum. Miebach is represented by the Nielsen Gallery in Boston and the Reeves Contemporary Gallery in New York.

Rombola holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from New England Conservatory. Together with Stephen Drury, she runs the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at the New England Conservatory, with the mission to cultivate broad experience with the far-reaching possibilities of new and experimental music.

The Mead Art Museum houses the art collection of Amherst College, totaling more than 16,000 works. An accredited member of the American Association of Museums, the Mead participates in Museums10, a regional cultural collaboration. During the academic term, the museum is open Tuesdays through Thursdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to midnight and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, please visit the museum’s Web site, www.amherst/museums/mead, or call 413/542-2335.