Foreword
I have long been fascinated by landscapes undergoing formation or transformation, an interest that repeatedly leads me to places fashioned by fire and ice. This book documents some of my fieldwork from journeys that have taken me to the frozen extremes of Antarctica and the High Arctic and to volatile landscapes shaped by volcanic activity, among them Iceland, southern Italy, Ecuador and Hawai‘i. The transience and frailty of place are constantly apparent in our surroundings, a situation that is fast becoming critical. As an artist I feel bound to represent the dynamic effects of change in the landscape, and this comes from a realisation that many sites are changing beyond recognition within my lifetime. I find it a challenge to respond to this, and my impulse to draw is that I may act as a witness. Drawing from observation out in the field is a vital part of my research for my large studio drawings and prints. Walking and orientating myself in a landscape
are important, and I try to find an engagement with my subject through drawing. It is a different activity to my studio work. I try not to be too self-conscious; I’m primarily concerned with getting down the information or the experience. I tend to use wet media for speed, such as watercolour or Indian ink (which always leaks onto everything), and found earths and volcanic ash, and to vary my drawing tools, moving between brushes and dip pens. I feel some trepidation about publishing my sketchbook drawings, as they are usually a private space and I rarely show them. They are often made in uncomfortable circumstances, with ink freezing on the brush or paper blowing about in high winds. But sometimes a strange alchemy of media and looking happens; when I review a drawing I realise I have enormous recall – the act of drawing has imprinted the scene onto my memory. The magical properties of drawing are what keep me out there.
Ice Norway
Watercolour A mountain towering above the Norwegian fishing village of Reine, in the Lofoten archipelago, above the Arctic Circle.
Watercolour Dramatic peaks rise out of the sea at Reine. Geologically, the Lofoten archipelago forms part of Norway’s Western Gneiss Region.
Ice France
Overleaf
Ink, watercolour and carbon dust The iron-rich Aiguilles Rouges in the French Alps face Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. In visiting this region over several decades I have witnessed the retreat of the glaciers at first hand.
Watercolour and ink While ashore in Northern Svalbard I glimpsed the traditional barquentine I was travelling on surrounded by ice. It reminded me of the iconic photographs taken by Frank Hurley of the Endurance beset by ice in 1915 (luckily it was a trick of the eye and we were at no risk of being icebound).
Artist’s acknowledgements
Royal Academy Publications
Alan Cristea Gallery, London Arts Council England thearcticcircle.org Gallery Bastian, Berlin University of Brighton School of Art Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park Listhus Iceland National Parks Arts Foundation HMS Protector Rabley Contemporary Drawing Centre Scott Polar Research Institute USGS Hawai‘ian Volcano Observatory
Florence Dassonville, Production Co-ordinator Carola Krueger, Production Manager Peter Sawbridge, Editorial Director Nick Tite, Publisher
Title page
Detail of one of the artist's drawing boards, as used in the field.
Photography
Prudence Cuming Associates Colour reproduction by DawkinsColour Design
Kathrin Jacobsen Typeset in Sentinel and Avenir and printed on Munken Polar Rough 150 gsm paper in Wales by Gomer Press All text and works of art © Emma Stibbon ra Copyright 2019 © Royal Academy of Arts All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-912520-25-1 Distributed outside the United States and Canada by ACC Art Books Ltd, Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4SD Distributed in the United States and Canada by ARTBOOK | D.A.P., 155 Sixth Avenue, New York NY 10013 Limited edition
Fifty copies of this book are available in a handmade, linen-covered presentation box containing two intaglio prints with hand colouring, Eruption, Stromboli and Ice Floe, 2019, made especially by the artist ISBN 978-1-912520-33-6