Sustainable Storytelling- Glacial Art

A showcase of artists communicating about climate change

Art and storytelling are powerful climate solutions. This newsletter is designed to be an antidote for doom scrolling, brightening your inbox with case studies about climate artists.

This week, we’re studying glacial art. We’ll explore artists who use glaciers as their subject or medium. These massive ice formations develop over hundreds of years as layers of snow compress into ice. But today, they’re melting far too quickly, contributing to 21% of global sea level rise in the past twenty years.¹

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Ice as art

Emma Mary Murray is an environmental artist and writer who makes slow-crafted heirloom art pieces that honor the landscapes they depict.

She was recently an artist-in-residence with the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project, where she backpacked to six different melting glaciers to create art en plein air, documenting the recession of the ice. She then hand-stitched flags into a postcard for the Shaped by Ice art show curated by Jill Pelto² in Seattle. View her work here.

Art by Emma Mary Murray

One of the most unique examples of glacier-inspired art comes from Olafur Eliasson. He brought huge chunks of ancient glacial ice that were fished from the coast of Greenland to his studio in Copenhagen. He placed the ice on thin washes of color on paper, and as it melted, the water displaced the pigment, giving new meaning to the idea of watercolor. View his work here.

Art by Olafur Eliasson Glacial currents (yellow, sienna), 2018 Photo: Jens Ziehe

Claire Giordano is an environmental artist, writer, and educator creatively exploring the interwoven patterns of people, place, and climate change. The photo on the right is from the Sea to Sky program at the University of Maine, where she was the science communication and art instructor.

Art by Claire Giordano

The course serves as a capstone field experience for Earth and Climate Science students (so cool!). While hiking through glaciers in Alaska, students collect data and samples, then create art inspired by their observations. Here is an excerpt from her field journal that I found moving. View her work here.

Climate Art 101 Student Spotlight

Here are a few pieces that my students in Climate Art 101 have created related to snow and oceans. One of the activities during the first week of the course is to make a nature mandala. Praveen Kathpal used snow, pinecones, acorns, and evergreen leaves for his materials.

The next cohort of Climate Art 101 starts June 2. The 6-week virtual course is designed to help you learn how to use art as a tool for climate communication. The curriculum has many more case studies like these in it. Learn more here.

My Climate Art

When I learned about the albedo effect a few years ago, I knew I wanted to make an infographic about it.³ I finally kicked into gear yesterday to whip this visual together for this newsletter.

Lessons Learned

Making art about climate change is complicated. The reality of glacial melt is heartbreaking, yet these artists offer new ways of honoring that grief. They invite an emotional connection to this topic without using common tropes (like polar bears looking sad on floating ice).

Their art transforms this heartbreak into something that provokes a sense of awe and reverence. When we paint these places, they become even more sacred. Something to be protected, looked at, and preserved. When I look at their work, I sit with the sadness and also try to imagine how we can take action to create a brighter future.

What could be possible if we create a world that protects these beautiful places? I don’t have all the answers, but I know that their art helps make me reflect and ask big questions. And I am grateful for that.

My mom and I at the Matanuska Glacier in 2005

Writing this piece made me remember visiting my Aunt in Alaska in 2005. I dug up some old photos from the trip. I wonder what the glacier looks like today.

Take Action

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) runs the Arctic Research Program, which works to provide climate information and decision-making tools to researchers to promote community resiliency.

The Trump administration's 2026 budget calls for massive funding cuts at NOAA. You can contact your representative using this form to urge Congress to protect NOAA here, it only takes one minute.

1. World Economic Forum. Read here.

2. Read my profile about Jill Pelto’s Data Driven Landscapes here.

3. What is the albedo effect? Read here.