Fire & Ice: Our Changing Landscape

April 9 - September 26, 2022

Zaria Forman, *Ode to An Iceberg, 360 View, Whale Bay, Antarctica*, 2017, Film still, Courtesy the Artist.

The Wildling Museum is proud to announce its first climate change-focused exhibition, Fire & Ice: Our Changing Landscape, on view April 9 - September 26, 2022. The public is invited to attend an opening reception on Sunday, April 10, 2022 from 3 - 5 p.m.

*Fire & Ice: Our Changing Landscape*, Installation view of works by Ethan Turpin, *Firescape - San Marcos Pass* and The Environment Makers, *Six Feet of Burning Ground*, April 2022, Photo by George Rose.

Curated by executive director Stacey Otte-Demangate, the immersive exhibition features ten contemporary artists depicting the opposing forces of fire and ice across a range of media, including video installations, acrylic paintings, photography, mixed media, fabric panels, an ice drill, and more.

While aesthetically appealing, these dramatic visuals also invite conversations about how increasingly frequent and severe fires are altering our landscape, particularly in the Western United States. Equally concerning is the retreat of glaciers and shrinking snowpack, and warming permafrost in our colder climes. Also included in the exhibition is “Letters to the Future,” an interactive installation by artist Xavier Cortada that invites visitors to write to future generations about their own efforts to help mitigate climate change and share their feelings about it.

Xavier Cortada, *vincennes*, 2007, Sea ice from Antarctica’s Ross Sea, sediment from Antarctica’s Dry Valleys, and mixed media on paper, Courtesy the Artist.

Featured Artists

David Paul Bayles, Xavier Cortada, Zaria Forman, Amiko Matsuo, Anna McKee, David Rosenthal, Ethan Turpin, The Environment Makers, Lorena Williams, and Suze Woolf.

Grateful thanks to exhibition sponsors

Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, Marion Lennberg, Gary Nett, Alexander & Heloise Power, George & Jane Roach, Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, and donors to the Patti Jacquemain Exhibition Fund.

Download Press Release

This exhibition is part of the Environmental Alliance of Santa Barbara County Museums’ inaugural project, Impact: Climate Change and the Urgency of Now. The Alliance is a collective of 12 museums, a zoo, and a botanic garden across Santa Barbara county that seeks to combine their impact to raise awareness about environmental issues through focused exhibitions, media campaigns, and educational programming.