Honoring the Future’s Alaskan Journey exhibition opened in the Reeves Gallery of historic St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore, MD on January 21, 2018 for a one month showing. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, features photographs and watercolor prints by Philadelphia artists Peter Handler and Karen Singer. This husband-wife team traveled to Alaska to meet with scientists, examine impacts of climate change, and portray what they saw – Handler through photography and Singer through watercolor painting.
The resulting artwork captures Alaska’s past, present, and future. It shows the state’s breathtaking natural beauty – the majestic mountains and enchanting boreal forests that have drawn tourists, travelers, and explorers from time immemorial.
It graphically portrays how climate change is remaking Alaska. When temperatures rise, wildfires rage and frozen (“permafrost”) soil thaws, destabilizing the ground. The effects are disastrous for plants and people. Singer’s aerial view, for example, shows the massive scale of a raging wildfire. It complements Handler’s ground-level photograph of firefighters standing amidst smoldering ashes and thick smoke.
The exhibition also depicts research underway to help plan for Alaska’s future. Singer paints the topography ecologists study for insights on forest preservation. Handler offers a rare glimpse into the underground “permafrost tunnel,” a unique U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facility normally open only to research scientists and engineers. Scientists use the tunnel, excavated in the 1960’s to study gold mining techniques, to find answers to today’s questions: how has climate changed over 40,000 years? What can we expect to see in the future? How long can permafrost remain frozen as temperatures rise? Can thawing revive bacteria trapped in frozen soil years ago?
“Alaska is warming faster than any other state,” said Fran Dubrowski, Director of Honoring the Future, “so the impacts of climate change are more readily seen there. We hope visitors to this exhibition will see in Alaska’s trajectory a warning of challenges to come as warmer temperatures and rising sea levels reshape Baltimore’s landscape too.”
This exhibition represents Honoring the Future’s second collaboration with the Reeves Gallery. “We are delighted to partner with Father James Casciotti, Gallery Manager David Cunningham, and St. Ignatius’ diverse community again,” said Dubrowski. “This parish has a long history of devotion to the arts – and an active social justice ministry too. So this is an ideal venue to explore how faith-based institutions can contribute to innovative climate education, planning and action.”
The artwork in this exhibition was previously presented in Philadelphia (at the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Region III headquarters) and in Hialeah, FL (at the Milander Arts Center). Honoring the Future plans to bring it to many more venues, fulfilling the artists’ original vision. “When we created this art,” says Singer, “we wanted to bear witness to climate change, to bring the lessons from Alaska home to other States while there is still time to act.” The Reeves Gallery is honoring that artistic vision: a statement on “What You Can Do” to address climate change sits center stage in this installation.
The Reeves Gallery is open Saturdays from 11:45 am – 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm and Sundays 7:45 am – 12:00 noon. Arrangements to visit the gallery at other times may be made with the parish office by phone 410-727-3848 or by email: parish@st-ignatius.net.
