The Big Frieze

RACHAEL FUNNELL looks at the work of three artists who have travelled to the ends of the earth to document frozen landscapes and raise awareness of the climate crisis

- Rachael Funnell

In the wake of growing concerns surrounding the very real threats of climate change, it’s perhaps unsurprising that there are artists making some of the globes most remote, unhospitable and under-threat environments the subject of their work. What is more surprising, perhaps, is how these works can be used, with paintings proving useful for scientific researchers keen to show the rapidly changing faces of these frozen landscapes as both temperatures and sea levels continue to rise.

This quest to capture these transitioning environments connects three highly influential artists operating on opposite sides of the Atlantic who have all worked in some of the most remote and fragile places on earth. A new exhibition at The McManus in Dundee, Among the Polar Ice, brings together works by a number of artists including Frances Walker and James Morrison, both of whom have experienced life on the ice. Meanwhile, New York-based pastel painter Zaria Forman has undertaken expeditions with likes of National Geographic and NASA to capture the dramatic and changing landscapes of the North Pole and Greenland. But with average temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees, what challenges do these artists face under such extreme conditions?

Born in the quiet outskirts of Kirkcaldy in 1930, Frances Walker graduated from Edinburgh College of Art and spent several years on travelling scholarships, exploring the likes of Iceland, Yugoslavia and Greece, before taking up a teaching position in the Outer Hebrides. Electricity hadn’t arrived in this far-flung corner of Scotland and, with no conventional means of transportation, Frances would spend her days travelling about on horses, tractors and boats in search of unique and spectacular locations.