Deadline extended for Antarctic art contest

July 21, 2015

The Antarctic Art Contest is extending its deadline until Oct. 1 for artwork that explores and interprets Antarctic research and science. Winning artwork will travel from Alaska to Antarctica in exhibits at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the National Science Foundation and research sites in Antarctica. An online gallery will show winning and honorable mention artwork.

The free contest will accept entries through its website, www.waisartcontest.org. The art contest helps people explore how art and science rely on observation and interpretation of the world. The subject of the art contest is an ice core that engineers and scientists drilled from the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Scientists are examining the ice core to make new observations and generate new ideas about the last 100,000 years of climate history. The drilling of the core left behind a 11,160-foot borehole into which scientists lower scientific equipment that collects data on the ice sheet.

Individuals or groups can take part in the contest. They may enter in one of five divisions: elementary school, secondary school, undergraduate, community or professional artist. Artwork can be in a variety of formats, including visual, written and multimedia. The website also contains a lesson plan that teachers can use with their students.

A team of researchers and educators known as “Velvet Ice” is sponsoring the contest. One of the researchers, glaciologist Erin Pettit from UAF's College of Natural Science and Mathematics, studies the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its ice crystal structures through the use of acoustic, optic and other instruments lowered into into the borehole.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Erin Pettit, UAF assistant professor of geophysics, ecpettit@alaska.edu

ON THE WEB: www.waisartcontest.org

ON FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/antarcticartcontest/