Please join Representative and environmental scientist Lindsay Cross, marine geologist Dr. Al Hine, artist and philosopher Dr. Carol Mickett, and renowned artist Robert Stackhouse for an exciting conversation about Art, Water, and Science. From how our planet’s water got here and shaped our world to the way in which visual art has represented water in its myriad manifestations. From the characteristics of saltwater and freshwater to why the twain do not meet. Let’s all ruminate about how water has infiltrated the way we view our lives. How we admire its beauty and its bounty. How we thirst for it. How we also fear its power, its quick ability to destroy, and its rapid warming. How without it, we shall be like sand through the hourglass with our time running out.

Dr. Carol Mickett, Artist | Moderator

Dr. Carol Mickett is part of a collaborative art team with artist Robert Stackhouse. They make 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art focused on water and climate issues. Museums, private collectors, developers, and governments collect and commission their work.

Dr. Mickett, along with Stackhouse, were the 2020 Creative Pinellas Art Laureates and received a Creative Loafing Best of the Bay Critic Award for her science conversations. They were Artists-At-Sea, in 2021, aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ocean-research vessel Falkor. In 2022, they had a show Balance of Water, at the Leepa Rattner Museum and received an NEA grant through Creative Pinellas for Cool Pinellas (icecubeproject.com). Mickett and Stackhouse’s show Circle of Water (2023) inaugurated the Florida Wildlife Corridor Gallery, Wild Space. They participated in Artist At Sea during Art Basel Miami Beach at the Patricia Frost Museum of Science sponsored by UNESCO, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Nautilus. WEDU’s (FL Public Television) 8-part YouTube and broadcast digital series, High Water Marks, “explores how their art and activism intersect to bring awareness and understanding to issues facing our environment.” Mickett and Stackhouse’s art is currently represented in Skyway 2024 at The Ringling Museum of Art.

Dr. Carol Mickett worked for over a decade in academia, holds her Ph.D. in philosophy, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated summa cum laude. Mickett received numerous grants, presents lectures, performs in theater, and has published essays, poems, and interviews in Canadian Philosophical Review, Hypatia, Prairie Schooner, and New Letters among others. She was the host/curator of Art Laureate Conversations for Creative Pinellas and for Our Town at the Dali Museum, and the host/producer of Art Radio in Kansas City, MO. She sits on Tarpon Springs, FL, Sustainability Board and the Boards of Pinellas County Urban League and North Pinellas Advocates for Racial Equity.

Representative Lindsay Cross, State Representative, District 60 | Panelist

Representative Lindsay Cross is a 23-year resident of Florida and is proud to represent District 60 in Pinellas County, which includes portions of St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park. She is an environmental scientist, with a BS in Environmental Health from Colorado State University and a MS in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of South Florida.

Throughout her career, she has focused on using science to make better management and policy decisions that strengthen our economy and improve our quality of life.

During 14 years at the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, she oversaw projects and advanced policy solutions to improve water quality and restore coastal and upland habitats within Florida’s largest open-water estuary. She has served in leadership roles at the Florida Wildlife Corridor and Florida Conservation Voters, both statewide non-profit organizations. She currently works as an senior environmental scientist for ESA, a nationwide environmental consulting firm.

First elected to the Florida State House in 2022 and subsequently reelected in 2024 for her second term, Rep. Cross will continue to serve the people of House District 60 by prioritizing affordable housing and insurance, clean water and resiliency, hurricane recovery, education and workforce training, healthcare, and other issues that affect her community.

Dr. Albert C. Hine, Geologist, Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida | Panelist

Dr. Albert C. Hine is a professor emeritus at the University of South Florida, where he taught geology and marine science for over 35 years. Dr. Hine is an expert in the geologic processes and products of shallow marine sedimentary environments, and has published widely on topics of coastal geology, sea level rise in Florida, and Florida’s geologic history. He has been awarded several prestigious grants and honors including the Francis P. Sheperd Medal for Sustained Excellence in Marine Geology from the Society of Sedimentary Geology, 2009, and was a member of the National Science Foundation’s University National Oceanographic Laboratory System Fleet Improvement Committee from 2006-2012. Dr. Hine was a chief scientist or co-chief scientist on 80 research cruises, spending over 750 days researching at sea. His excursions which include the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Drilling Program JOIDES Resolution, Leg 182 and the Great Australian Bight, brought Dr. Hine to five oceans for research which included use of submersibles, such as the DSV Alvin. Dr. Hine was a distinguished graduate of the USAF Officer Training School and served honorably in active service from 1969 – 1971 when he was honorably discharged as 1st Lieutenant. He was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal by the Citizens Committee fort he Army, Navy, and Air Force for his outstanding qualities of leadership. Dr. Hine earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, his master of science degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, and his doctorate from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

Robert Stackhouse, Artist | Panelist

Robert Stackhouse is a widely exhibited sculptor, painter, and printmaker who taught at the Corcoran College of Art from 1966 to 1987; for many of those years he was chair of the BFA degree program. In addition, he has held endowed chairs at the University of Denver, the Hartford Art School, and the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Florida. His work can be found in museum collections around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, The National Gallery in Washington D.C., the National Gallery of Australia, the Phillips Collection, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

For close to 30 years, he has enjoyed a successful career working collaboratively with artist and philosopher Carol Mickett. They make 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art focused on water and climate issues. Stackhouse, along with Mickett, were the 2020 Creative Pinellas Art Laureates. They were Artists-At-Sea, in 2021, aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ocean-research vessel Falkor. In 2022, they had a show Balance of Water, at the Leepa Rattner Museum and received an NEA grant through Creative Pinellas for Cool Pinellas (icecubeproject.com). Mickett and Stackhouse’s show Circle of Water (2023) inaugurated the Florida Wildlife Corridor Gallery, Wild Space. They participated in Artist At Sea during Art Basel Miami Beach at the Patricia Frost Museum of Science sponsored by UNESCO, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Nautilus. WEDU’s (FL Public Television) 8-part YouTube and broadcast digital series, High Water Marks, “explores how their art and activism intersect to bring awareness and understanding to issues facing our environment.” Mickett and Stackhouse’s art is currently represented in Skyway 2024 at The Ringling Museum of Art.

What to Expect / Accessibility Concerns

• Crowded Areas
• Dim Lights
• Stairs