Vanishing Ice
31 January – 26 April 2015
“During the 2005 Cape Farewell expedition to Svalbard in the High Arctic, we were trying to formulate a visual response to climate change but when the temperature doesn’t rise much above minus 27 degrees centigrade, this isn’t easy. One idea we came up with was to create a large ice lens that would focus beams of sunlight, possibly melting snow or scorching sheets of paper. We found a small glacial iceberg frozen into the sea and sawed off a section, dragging it back to the boat where we hand carved it into a disc shaped lens. The sun, however, was low and weak in the sky, it’s rays couldn’t really focus through the smooth but shattered ice but it became a “suncatcher,” presenting a cracked, ancient mosaic of light.”
– Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey
Whatcom Museum, Washington
Vanishing Ice
November 2013
Vanishing Ice offers a glimpse into the rich cultural legacy of the planet’s frozen frontiers. International in scope, it traces the impact of glaciers, icebergs and fields of ice on artists’ imaginations.
