In May 2023, the artist Jim Schaantz and Peter Bremers are Iceland’s Vatnajökull-The second largest glacier in Europe. The two artists who closed the huge ice formation and witnessed the marker of climate change said, “We inspired to cooperate.Saying to the glacier”The exhibition was held at the Berkshire Museum in Fitzfield, Massachusetts.
Lydia Pilcher, a filmmaker and adjunct professor at Columbia Climate School. Last interview: “One of the things that art is really beautiful is to remind us of being part of the natural world.”
Schaantz’s ‘S and Bremers’ work is right. Using two other media (glass sculptures and oils), connecting with a distant threat provides viewers with a sense of our place in the world.
The perspective of Schaantz includes a vast landscape. The geometric forms of glaciers and icebergs come from a body of water, the background of the mountain is approaching and the clouds protrude. Soft blues, white, yellow and purple shades capture the subtleness of the light of this area. SCHANTZ is famous for its landscape paintings of Berkshire, Western Massachusetts, and other historical sites around the world.
In contrast, Bremers, a Dutch artist and glass sculptor, focuses on a single glacier. His glass -shaped technology can deliver a clear detail of the glacier surface with curvature, residue and gaps. Various thickness of transparent glass creates a lot of blue shades. The sculpture is 20-40 inches height and some weight is over 100 pounds. Bremers also exhibits glass sculptures at the Solo Exhibition “Ice and Water” at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, and returned to the previous iceberg series that started decades ago.
Artist together ‘ work Vatnajökull provides a wide range of contexts and intimate focuses in the southern Iceland.
In an interview with Glacierhub, Bremers and Schaantz discusses the location of creative processes and inspirations.
This interview has been edited for clarity and simplicity.
Why is it based on the work of Iceland’s Vatnajökull glacier?
SCHANTZ: Peter was there a year ago and proposed a visit to the same area as Jökulsárlón, the glacier lake, at the southern point of Vatnajökull. The glacier has melted and has been developing this lake since the 1940s and is now the deepest lake in Iceland.
Bremer: I went to Vatnajökull three times and see how it contracts every time. The distance from the sea to the actual foundation of the glacier is still far away, but you can see how the glacier bay grow into a more vast lake.
I returned home and talked about my joint experience and made my work. How do you think this space for this reflection has affected your art, unlike working in Iceland?
SchaantzAfter returning home and starting to work in the studio, it became an idea for admiration for glaciers. Ice calf is a monument of the glacier. They are temporary and last for a week or two weeks.
It was a special experience to be removed from the position while working in the studio and to carry myself and capture it somehow. I didn’t expect all of this inspiration to come from a glacier lake.
Can you talk about glass work experience?
Bremer: Ice and glass are very similar but contrast. When heated, the ice loses its shape, while the heated glass becomes tall. For kiln casting [creating an object out of glass in a kiln]I start with an industrial form. It is as soft as pine. It allows me to work accurately and relatively quickly.
Then, when the model is ready, a mold is made to fix the glass. Its term is ‘casting’, but technically you do not ‘cast’ hot glass. We put a cold glass into the open cast frame and heat it with a kiln to take the shape of the fungus. It should cool very slowly and it can take months. Finally, it was completely polished with the earth.
How would you explain the source of your work and inspiration?
SCHANTZ: There is a coalition between our work, but the work itself is very different as with our inspiration. It was Jökulsárlón for myself. For Peter, it was a diamond beach, where the glacier sculpture was returned to the sea in the coast near the lake.
Bremer: I translate the beauty of ice into abstract sculptures. I want to express the way ice interacts with light and capture both the structure and melting state of the ice.
Suddenly, when you walk one of these sculptures change And it looks like a waterfall. Continuous change is the reason why it actually creates and synonymous with glaciers.
I hope your work will be delivered.
Bremer: I sometimes say we are witnesses as an artist. We translate the world into our work. Perhaps it’s sad to say that people have to go to the museum to remind people that they have a piece of glass and glacier.
Schaantz: I was thinking about the Hudson painters in the 1850s. They mainly found that the United States is changing to document this or to paint the beauty of the landscape. They have this vast landscape of smoking cigarettes on small factories and horizontal lines. It was a warning of changes caused by human causes. We are also documenting this way. Ultimately, I think it is an idea that starts new things and draws beauty.
For more information about the exhibition, please visit Berkshire Museum (Closed on January 5, 2025) or Chrysler Art Museum (Closed January 19, 2025). At the end of this year, Schaantz and Bremers Sandra Einley Gallery In Toronto.
