Antarctic Art Contest announces winners

January 21, 2016

A team of Antarctic researchers has announced the winners of an international art contest. The artworks chosen for the Antarctic Art Contest will comprise a traveling art exhibit to be shown in Alaska, Antarctica and Washington D.C.

Team leader Erin Pettit, an associate professor in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Department of Geosciences, said the artwork will debut at the University of Alaska Museum of the North on March 12, just as Arctic researchers from around the world convene at UAF for the Arctic Science Summit Week.

“The artwork lets us see Antarctic research and science from new perspectives,” she said. “Looking at science from different points of view leads to new discoveries and helps us understand the meaning of those discoveries.”

Participants in the contest drew inspiration from the same place that inspires Pettit’s research — the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Ice Core.

Scientists and engineers drilled a core more than two miles deep from the site to study the ice sheet’s climate history during the past 68,000 years. Pettit and her research team looked at how processes like climate change have shaped the arrangement and evolution of the ice crystals.

Pettit said she and her team hope the artwork will engage the public in the conversation about climate change. She said both art and science work on the edge of society’s comfort zone, which encourages dialogue.

“Scientists push the boundaries our scientific knowledge base” she said. “Artists push the boundaries of what beauty is and how to communicate emotions and ideas.”

One of the winning artists, Lucy East from Australia, reflected the length of the ice core in a cyanotype, or a sun print, on rice paper that is 23 feet long and displayed vertically. She said her artwork helps viewers appreciate the core's depth. They can visualize the core as 500 times larger than the artwork.

The panel of judges included artists, scientists and members of the Antarctica research team.

The Antarctic Art Contest will run through August. During ASSW, another art exhibit called Arctic Perspectives will showcase artwork inspired by Arctic research and science in the University Art Gallery. The show will have an opening reception on March 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. Visitors will have a chance to explore the polar extremes and their connections through science-inspired art at both exhibits.

Winners in their respective divisions:

Secondary Student — Laura Lira of California with a watercolor

Current or recent undergraduate student — Natalie Graff of Oregon with "Tent City," a mixed-media drawing

Community — Lucy East of Australia with "Lose Sight of the Shore," a cyanotype print on Wenzhou rice paper

Emerging Artist — Clairissa Stephens of Oregon with "Air Archive," a silverpoint, silver leaf and watercolor

Professional — Francois Quévillon of Canada with "Defrost," a video installation

Honorable mention with respective divisions:

Secondary student — Cayley Buckner of Florida with photographs

Community — Pauline Thomas of Alaska with a paper collage

Community — Sandy Winfree, Robert Winfree and Ruth Kalarek of Alaska with "A World of Change," a quilt

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Erin Pettit, UAF associate professor of geophysics, at ecpettit@alaska.edu
ON THE WEB: www.waisartcontest.org
ON FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/antarcticartcontest