Snows of Winter Past (2011)

Watercolor, Colored Pencil, and Acrylic, 2021

I had the opportunity to join 38 other artist in creating a Slice of Time with TIME Magazine in December 2021. I chose the year 2011 and paired with artist Claire Giordano who then painted the same scene 100 years in the future, in 2111.

This image is a painting of Easton Glacier on Mt. Baker in Washington State. A graph sharply cuts across in front of the mountain — the data is the distance the Easton Glacier has retreated from 2000-2021, which is about 350 meters (~1,150 ft). Highlighted on the data line is 2011, a year of significance to the glaciers and to me.

I have worked every August from 2009-2021 with the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project. Our team works on the same group of about 10 glaciers, measuring their annual changes. Doing this work is a gift, and has built a deep emotional connection with these landscapes. But we are here to record them changing, and so we must witness something we love diminishing. 

There are several years that stand out to me in working on these glaciers — most of all is 2011, which had very high snowfall amount. That year, lakes that you can normally swim in were still frozen over in August, many hiking trails never saw the sun, and very little ice was exposed on the glacier of the North Cascades. 

The artist I am paired with for the companion piece is Claire Giordano, a good friend who has been going to Easton Glacier for much of her life, and who has joined us several times during our science research.

Data Source: https://wgms.ch/fogbrowser/

https://time.com/collection/slices-of-time/