We have met the giant! Finally, after 6 days battling ice, we have come face to face with the largest ice wonder on the planet, the Ross Ice Shelf. With a face 30 meters high and up to 200 meters below the water, this massive block of ice extends from the Antarctic continent with an area the size of France. As we sail parallel to this immense barrier that gives birth to enormous tabular icebergs, I am humbled to try to find the right language of marks and composition to express the immensity and scale. Thanks to our helicopter team, we had all 100 passengers on top of the ice field. They stared down the steep cliffs and raised a toast of champagne in memory of the explorers that came before us.
Painting from the Bow of the Icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov", 11:30 pm (photo by Daisy Gilardini)
Over the next few days, we hope to visit the historical huts of Shackelton and Scott. Having artifacts to work from will be a welcome treat for the collection of about a dozen artists that have joined me in daily 2:15p.m. workshops over the past few weeks. Part of my duties as Artist in Residence for Quark Expeditions is to facilitate an atmosphere of creativity so as to inspire anybody from professional to beginner artisan. We have supplies in the art box and a cozy lounge as our studio, in addition to a coffee station. The comfort is a welcome break from the harsh reality of the unforgiving icescape outside. Hope to upload pictures from our workshops soon; there’s some incredible work! Now we rest and save energy for the busy days ahead.
"Painting from the fly deck," (photo by David McEown)
"Towards the Ross Sea." 15in. x 10in. watercolour
--David
More information:
Robert Falcon Scott of the British Navy was the first person to explore Antarctica by land. Because he made countless ill-advised decisions (for instance, that his men rather than dogs should pull the sleds), his 1912 expedition to Antarctica was marked by calamity. In the race to the South Pole, Scott lost to Roald Amundsen, who reached the Pole 30 days before Scott’s party and claimed the South Pole for Norway. Scott, dispirited, attempted the journey back, but froze to death, along with two of his colleagues. David Crane’s new book, reviewed in the December 3rd Sunday New York Times’s Book Review, Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006) explains the context for Scott’s choices and argues for his heroism. It’s available here.
To read another account of Scott’s two exhibitions to Antarctica, visit http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/com.
Sir Ernest Shackleton turned back from the first of Scott’s expeditions, but took his own crew to the Antarctic in 1914. Endurance became trapped in sea ice, and the crew was forced to abandon ship. Withstanding untold privation in a spirit of shared suffering, Shackleton and his men camped on the ice for five months. After he made two open boat journeys to seek help, Shackleton and his crew found refuge; all survived. To read about an exhibition devoted to Shackleton’s historic expedition, visit http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/shackleton.