Above: Arthur Oliver Wheeler (Canadian, 1860—1945), Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, 1917, printed 2013, Black-and-white photograph, 35.6 x 50.8 cm, Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada. Below: Gary Braasch (American, b.1950), Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, 2005, Archival inkjet print, 35.6 x 50.8 cm, Courtesy of the artist, Portland, Oregon>

For example, Edwin Landseer’s Man Proposes, God Disposes, painted in 1864, shows vicious polar bears picking over the remains of the doomed Franklin expedition. But as melting ice threatens their lifestyle, polar bears have instead become symbols of the Arctic’s fragile ecosystems. This vulnerability is mirrored by the haunting juxtaposition of two images of the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park; between the time of Arthur Oliver Wheeler’s 1917 photograph and Gary Braasch’s 2005 copycat, the glacier has retreated by more than a kilometer and lost nearly half its volume.

The exhibition also highlights the historic partnership between art and science.

“Artists awaken the world to both the beauty and increasing vulnerability of ice, which is critical for biological and cultural diversity,” says Matilsky, who recreated the 5000-mile iceberg-hunting expedition of 19th century landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church in 2008.

Many of the earliest polar paintings come from artists who tagged along on research expeditions to document the journey for audiences back home. That tradition continues today, with modern granting agencies providing room for artists and writers to work alongside scientists.

One moving example is Lita Albuquerque’s Stellar Axis, Constellation 1, which was created with the support of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program. The piece shows 99 ultramarine spheres on Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf, mapping out the positions of southern constellation that cannot be seen during the 24-hour sunlit day. A year later, Albuquerque created a complimentary installation at the other end of the globe, calling attention to the beauty of the poles and the axis between them.

“In many ways, an artist’s creative process resembles that of a scientist: observing, looking for patterns in the natural world, and interpreting the results,” says Matilsky. In return, artists “offer scientists a way to communicate their ideas to the public on more visceral, emotional, and spiritual levels.”

But whether you’re a scientist, geographer, artist or some combination thereof, Matilsky hopes that the exhibition will both inspire people and motivate environmental activism.

Vanishing Ice was created at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington.

Lita Albuquerque (American, b. 1946), Stellar Axis, Constellation 1, 2006, Archival inkjet print by Jean de Pomereu, 53 x 120 cm, Whatcom Museum, Gift of Jean de Pomereu, 2013.17.2