Day 1: Boarding Tall Ship Antigua

Monday, October 1, 2018
Overcast and windy in the morning with clearing skies in the afternoon/evening, 14º F

This past weekend was filled with trips into Longyearbyen from Coal Miner’s Cabins. Mary Ellen, Patricia, and I met the artist in residence at Galleri Svalbard - a painter from Seattle named Elizabeth Bourne. She was painting using pigment containing coal from the old mine. She had been the artist-in-residence for September, so she was getting ready to leave and head home.

We also met an artist friend of Patricia’s - a jeweler named Marina. She lives and has her studio in a tiny house near the water. She invited us in to sit around the table where she makes her work. She offered us coffee or tea as we chatted amongst her various tools, raw materials, pieces of incomplete silver jewelry, paperwork, and scattered miniature zip-locks that held shining pieces of silver rings, earrings and pendants. We chatted for a little while, then walked down to the water to look. Mountains encircled us all the way around. The fjord is massive, so the horizon is lined with what looks like small snow-crusted peaks into the distance. Here, the distance is deceiving.

We walked back across town to Coal Miner’s for a rest, then dinner at Huset in the bistro. (Huset is the northern-most Michelin-star restaurant.)

The next morning Mary Ellen, Patricia, Isaac, and I had breakfast together at Coal Miner’s, and we were eager to meet the rest of our comrades who would be on the ship with us in just s few hours. We decided to walk down into town again to pick up a couple of things - stamps, postcards, maps. It was colder and windy - maybe 14º F or so. So out of excitement and necessity we walked at a faster pace.

There are only three Norwegian Air flights that fly into Svalbard each week directly from Oslo. A few of us that were already staying in Longyearbyen had been on the Thursday afternoon flight. The very next commercial Norwegian flight arrives on Sunday afternoons. That flight held most of the other people we would spend the next several weeks with - including the captain and some of Antigua’s crew.

At 4pm, everyone met at Coal Miner’s for introductions and the first set of instructions from our guides, then we gathered again for dinner at 7pm. I was impressed by every person I met that night, but had no idea what was to come in the next couple of weeks. Back in my room by 10pm, I packed and got ready to board the boat the next day. I stayed up until midnight to see if we could see the Northern Lights (aurora borealis), but no luck - it was too cloudy.

The next day, we all ate breakfast at Coal Miner’s. More introductions. Last minute errands to town. And, back to Coal Miner’s to board the bus that shuttled down to the ship at 1:30pm. We spilled out of the bus at the pier in Longyearbyen, and our first glimpse of Tall Ship Antigua was impressive. Four masts, a blue hull, a proper wheel house, and a mast of square sails. Our home for the next fifteen days.

On Antigua, we settled into our cabins and came back up to the lounge for some coffee and tea - and to await more instructions from the captain. The crew and our four guides introduced themselves to us. Sarah, the head guide, gave us additional instructions about how to behave on the ship and how the daily excursions work. The captain, Mario, talked about other protocols and emergency procedures. So, we listened to this new way of operating and then set sail some time later.

We pulled out of port with the engines sometime before 6:00pm, and once there was some wind, we set a couple of the sails - the mainsail, the main staysail, and the fore staysail. The sunset was exquisite - one of the best I’ve ever seen. The horizon glowing a warm yellowish-peach with a gradient leading upwards of green through every shade of blue. And a towering slash across the sky with pink, salmon, and lavender clouds. Because of the size of the fjord, despite the surrounding mountains we could see the sky almost all of the way to the horizon.

At 7:00pm, we came in for dinner, and a couple of people were having trouble with seasickness. I thought I was okay until I sat down to eat.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) through a grant from The McKnight Foundation.

Arriving in Svalbard

Sunday, September 30, 2018
Mostly clear skies and currently 14ºF with a high of 22ºF

Sitting in my room in the Coal Miners’ Cabins in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. It’s about 7:30am. I’ve been hanging out here with Mary Ellen (a composer also living in Minneapolis, and we plan to collaborate on some kind of work as a result of this trip) and Patricia (a Dutch Canadian photographer/installation artist currently living in Scottland) for the past two days.

On the way here, I took a red-eye flight and arrived in Reykjavik on Thursday morning. I met Mary Ellen at the Blue Lagoon at 8:00am right after my plane landed - a great start to this trip. We walked around old town Reykjavik in the afternoon, had dinner at a traditional Icelandic place, then went to bed early. I woke up at 1:30am to some loud music coming from a car outside my guesthouse window. I couldn’t get back to sleep. The city seems super safe, so I went on a walk around 2:30am or so. and I came back to my room around 3:30am. Just enough time to repack, meet Mary Ellen for an early breakfast at 4:00am, and catch our shuttle back to the airport at 4:30am.

We flew to Oslo, took a shuttle to our next hotel, and walked a quarter of a mile to an adjacent hotel for some dinner. I found myself feeling a little scratchy. That night that feeling got much worse, and I awoke with a fever and stabbing pain in my throat. I could barely get myself to function in the morning, but I tried to keep it together since we were traveling. My mind felt scrambled. In security at the Oslo airport, Mary Ellen and I both had our bags searched, which left us a little frazzled. I lost my new fleece - either in the security check or on the plane. I don’t have any recollection since my mind was too fuzzy.

But shortly after, we arrived in Svalbard - gorgeous, mysterious Svalbard. From the air, the island of Spitsbergen looked like it consisted only of rocky, whipped-cream mountains. The plane landed in Longyearbyen and did a U-turn to come back to the terminal with only one gate. We deplaned on the tarmac. All passengers can take a bus directly to their hotel or into town. So we did that and stayed where I sit now: Coal Miners’ Cabins.

When we got to the check-in desk at Coal Miners’, which is also the bar and where you order for the restaurant, we met two other people on the trip: Isaac (a muralist from Phoenix) and Patricia. We sat and drank a beer, then settled into our rooms.

It didn’t matter that I was feeling crummy, this place is exhilarating. I live in Minnesota - a place with cold winters, snow, and lots of public land to enjoy. But Svalbard is something entirely different. The archipelago of Svalbard is made up of seemingly endless mountains and fjords, and it is situated at about the midpoint between Norway and the North Pole. According to wikipedia, seven national parks and 23 nature reserves protect its fragile natural land, and about 60% of it is blanketed by glaciers.

After resting for just a short while in our rooms, it was time to get out and see some of Longyearbyen, Mary Ellen, Patricia, and I walked into town, which is about a half-hour walk from Coal Miners’) to find an outfitter - for a couple of different reasons, including so that I could find a replacement for my fleece that I’d left in Oslo. I think we each wanted to explore a bit.

We walked down the main road (none of the streets in Longyearbyen are actually named) to Sportscenteret. There was a gal working there who was wearing Steger Mukluks. Mukluks are made a couple of hours north of where I live in Minnesota, so this place instantly felt just a bit closer to home. She said that shipping from Minnesota to Longyearbyen is so expensive, but they are the best winter footwear. So, each year the people in Longyearbyen arrange a mass order to save on shipping costs. (I’d happily volunteer to fly over with the next shipment!)

I bought the fleece that I needed, and we walked to a couple of the other outfitters in town. Afterwards, we had a delicious traditional meal at a restaurant called Kroa and then came back to Coal Miners’ for the night.

Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago with islands ranging 74° to 81° north latitude

Generally, I love exploring new cities, but exploring Longyearbyen is an entirely different kind of excitement. It feels like it’s on the edge of the earth - a last outpost before a seemingly endless sea towards the north pole. There’s a possibility of polar bears. Generally, being in town is safe, but it is illegal to walk outside of the city limits without a rifle for polar bear protection. The weather seems like it gets harsh. But, it had just snowed when we arrived, so everything looks fresh and magical.

Flying into Svalbard and walking around this town wedged between mountains gives me a similar feeling to what I’ve had before while exploring the remote locations - like in Utah around Moab/Arches National Park and in Botswana. The landscape is unforgiving and massive, and it’s hard to grasp just how small we are in comparison.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) through a grant from The McKnight Foundation.

First thoughts after returning from the Arctic

I traveled to the Arctic to research the skies, atmosphere - to see first hand and how it’s changing with climate change. At passport control in Oslo on the way through the airport, the agent asked me if I was going there to watch the ice melt. Foolishly, I said yes and parroted something about climate change. Doesn’t everyone know that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet? I think he actually rolled his eyes at my response.

The truth is, over the last few weeks, what I saw was a breathtaking pristine landscape. Snow came earlier than normal this year, so when I arrived it was blanketed in perfect white. While on the ship we saw dozens of glaciers - larger-than-life scenes of ultramarine, teal, cobalt, and indigo. Daytime skies appeared rarely brighter than dusk, so pinks, peaches, apricots, periwinkles, and violets ruled the sky. The first week was dotted with days of more fresh snow, allowing us to see recent tracks made by polar bears, arctic foxes, reindeer, and ptarmigans. 

When we headed back south again towards Longyearbyen, the weather had gotten warmer and the snow started to melt. Only then could we see traces of human carelessness. On one hike, we saw the skull of a reindeer that had gotten entangled with a large fishing net. The nets get caught in reindeer antlers, then the reindeer struggle to get free. Only making this worse, this reindeer eventually tired out and starved to death. On another hike, we saw a rocky beach peppered with garbage. Rusty paint can, five-gallon bucket, rope, plastic pieces, bags, and glass.

What I learned is a lesson in the pace of time. It may be impossible to actually visualize most of the effects of climate change within a window of a couple of weeks. How arrogant of me to think I’d see it otherwise. The agent was right: I couldn’t really SEE the ice melting. But what I did see is the opportunity to see a place in all of its beauty and wonder. I still feel panicked by the damage that humans may ultimately cause in the Arctic, even more so now than before I visited. But this trip showed me the value of falling in love with a place. To me, it’s real and tangible. I can envision the changes over time. I will remember the smells, the light, the cold.

Anything I can do to help keep this vast place as it is, I will.

Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to write about my experience and post photos here. Stay tuned to learn more about my trip with The Arctic Circle residency from October 1-15, 2018.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) through a grant from The McKnight Foundation.

A new voyage

I leave in just a few hours to make the several-day trek to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. I’ll be aboard the tall ship Antigua with The Arctic Circle expedition starting October 1.

One of the things I’m most interested to witness is the quality of light in the extreme northern latitudes. When we arrive in Longyearbyen, there will be 10 hours of daylight. By the time we leave, there will only be 5 — losing about 1/2 hour of light each day.

The other thing I’m really looking forward to (aside from everything we’ll be seeing) is that there won’t be any phone service or internet on the ship. Silence has a profound affect on me and my art, so I welcome this time away from social media and email.

I’ll be back in about a month or so! Stay tuned for updates when I return.

Setting out my gear for the expedition.

Thank you to the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Without a Next Step Fund grant, I wouldn’t have been able to go on this adventure. I’m truly grateful!.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) through a grant from The McKnight Foundation.

The Arctic Circle

Originally published April 12, 2017

I can't contain my excitement any longer- I'm so happy to have the opportunity to say that I will be a part of an expedition to the Arctic in 2018. More details to come in the next couple of months!

Image: The Farm, Inc.