Arctic Reverie

ARTIST STATEMENT

In August of 2024 I made my second trip to Svalbard, an archipelago north of Norway and east of Greenland. Both trips were artist residencies based aboard ships. The first one, in 2022 was on the Tall Ship Antigua and we sailed up and down part of the west coast of Svalbard. The more recent trip, on the polar vessel Ortelius, traveled around the circumference of the archipelago and up into the sea ice all the way to 82 degrees north.

These trips were powerful experiences. The High Arctic is a remarkable place - incredibly varied landscapes populated by polar bears, walruses, reindeer, birds, whales  and very few people. Change was apparent - retreating glaciers, polar bears shifting to hunting reindeer instead of seals because of a lack of ice floes from which to ambush their traditional prey. We experienced rain and mist, mud and quicksand as well as ice. It’s a very quiet place when the seabirds have migrated  – and August is late enough in the year that most have decamped. Our noisiest day was visiting a colony of walruses who bellowed and complained about our presence.

These paintings aim to capture the feelings of that time through a mix of abstraction and representation; documenting the beauty of the place transforming fastest on the planet because of climate change. They are meant to echo religious icons because to me there is something ineffable and sacred about the high latitudes and the power and fragility of the environs and its inhabitants.  I am captivated by the beauty of the place and full of grief for its change.