Water-Ice-Sky: Artist April Waters Depicts Antarctica
8:00 am – 5:00 pm MDT
Water-Ice-Sky, Antarctica, an exhibition by Oregon-based artist April Waters, with graphic design by Rick Yurk, is on display at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, from October 9, 2023, to April 15, 2024. (Plan your trip!)
As a grantee of the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, April traveled in 2018 to Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. There, she observed, photographed, and sketched the glaciers, icebergs, ocean, sky, and wildlife. She joined scientists who were collecting samples from boats on the Southern Ocean and witnessed the effects of climate change firsthand in this rapidly warming region of Antarctica.
Throughout her career, April has depicted water in her paintings - Oregon’s Willamette River and Crater Lake, for example. The visit to Antarctica helped her expand that focus to include another form of water: ice. Water is impermanent, says April. It’s always moving through the water cycle. And the Antarctic ice she documented is melting rapidly because of climate change. With her paintings, she is capturing water and ice in a particular place and time.
“The paintings of our polar ice are expressions of a beautiful, fascinating, life-giving, and ever-changing substance. They are portraits of chapters in the life of water.” - April Waters
She brought her observations, sketches, and photographs back to her studio – including sketches of the colors, patterns, and shapes she saw in the ice – and created landscape paintings of the Earth’s southernmost continent, focusing on the three most prominent features of the place: ice, ocean, and sky. Fine art prints of her landscape paintings and a suite of photographs that tell her story of the Antarctic are on display at NCAR.
Ice-Time, Iceberg by Litchfield Island, Antarctica, Oil on Canvas, by April Waters
April Waters
April Waters earned her Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Colorado Boulder and worked for many years as a registered nurse. Her paintings can be found in the collections of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, the State of Oregon, Oregon State University, Mount Angel Library, as well as many places of healing. Her painting “Wizard Island, Crater Lake” was exhibited at the American Embassy in Kyrgyzstan through the United States Arts in Embassies Program. April’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions over the past thirty years, including a one-person show in the office of Oregon’s Governor. Her Antarctic expedition was made possible by Award #1745372 from the NSF Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, which is now part of the NSF Polar STEAM program.