British Antarctic Survey

Natural Environment Research Council

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

I have always had a keen artistic vision. In my early career I have exhibited a number of water colours (Northamptonshire open studios 1999), but since employment with British Antarctic Survey I have moved to other media. My BAS work has involves cartography and the viewing, processing and compiling many satellite images. My map making often involves making bespoke “artistic” maps, some of which have ended up in unusual places, St Pauls Cathedral, the places of Royalty and the homes of Government Ministers to name but a few. Over the last few years I have been struck by the aesthetic beauty of the natural forms created in the Antarctic environment and the ability of satellite images of capture these: Antarctica is famed for the beauty of its light and the rich textural effects and reduced colour palette of the icy environment that give images a surreal other-worldly feel, especially when portrayed from the unusual viewpoint of the space-borne satellite. The satellite image has certain advantages over the conventional camera; it can show remote perspectives of the earth visible by no other means, and each satellite image contains 10-100 times more information than even the best SLR cameras. This means that these remotely sensed images can be shown as large format prints without losing any detail. In 2009 I exhibited a number of large-format satellite images picked, processed and formatted from the thousands of images we download as part of the science effort at BAS as part of a successful exhibition in Ely, along with photographs by Steve Roberts and ceramics by Angela Mellor. The images on show here compliment that initial show.

 

To enquire about images in other formats or frames please contact me at: E-mail: ptf@bas.ac.uk