James Leonard of New york City gives Flexcia Delevine a Climate Change Divination Reading in a tent set up in Diamond Park in Butler on Thursday. The tent is part of his performance installation project.

James Leonard of New York City staged his art exhibit in Diamond Park in Butler on Thursday afternoon.

Leonard, an internationally known display artist, calls his exhibit the Tent of Casually Observed Phenologies which is meant to encourage discussion about climate change by using art rather than arguments.

“I’m not here as a protester, I’m here as an artist,” he said.

Leonard took stories from people about what changes to the environment they have seen and used those stories as inspiration for his paintings, which are displayed outside the tent.

On the inside, the tent had swaths of cloth, which he uses as a comforting backdrop to set people at ease during his climate change-related Tarot readings. He said he tries to help people understand something personal about themselves through his readings.

Marcellus Outreach Butler brought Leonard to Butler for the day.

Organizer Michael Badges-Canning said the event was not meant to convince people about climate change, but to have materials for those interested to see.

“It was important to have a non-judgmental conversation,” Badges-Canning said. “We want to have dialogue.”