Ice Core Time Capsules: The Art and Science of US Antarctic Glacier Research

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

Two artists--a photographer and a fine art printmaker--are collaborating with scientists to create an interdisciplinary art and education project titled, The Transparency of Ice and Deep Time in Antarctica. The project artists will embed with multiple science teams to facilitate learning about U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) ice-core research while simultaneously documenting science in action. Portraits of scientists, visual documentation of their equipment, and the larger Antarctic landscape will act as artistic muses and the visual basis of their artworks. The resulting art will incorporate scientists' written descriptions of their work and polar experiences. The project's aim is to help elucidate for the public the USAP ice-coring and climate studies, which reveal ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. The artist'? printed artworks will be collated into a monumentally scaled limited edition artist book. In addition, the artists' framed work will be widely disseminated through traditional fine art and other venues and form the foundation of original, art-based educational and outreach materials. The artists will be based at McMurdo and from there make trips to several field camps to observe drilling and ice core recovery operations. The project will include fine art photography (landscape, portrait, and documentary styles) and handmade prints (woodcuts) with the latter being created with a specialized printmaking press post fieldwork. Both project artists will print their artworks onto archival Washi papers that will ultimately constitute the pages of a large-scale artist book. Annotations written by the field scientists will be incorporated in the artworks and exhibitions. The artist books will be museum-grade, limited edition art objects. Additionally, the artists will create exhibition materials (including framed artworks and scientists' writings) suitable for a broad array of venues including, but not limited to, art, children?s and science museums. While in Antarctica, the artists plan to conduct outreach activities (via Skype) with elementary and college-levels classrooms. Upon return, they will develop STEAM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) lesson plans for elementary school students and a university-level seminar course. The resulting educational resources will reside on the project's online, educational website. This award is an Antarctic Artists and Writers project supported by NSF's Office of Polar Programs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.