Penelope Bartlau and I researched the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s (TMAG’s) Antarctic Collection to develop a work for their public program over the summer holidays. With children and families, we created a new work “Antarctic Gaze” which was presented on two showing days at the end of the residency.

The focus of the research was on icebergs – in particular the B-15 iceberg. Children were asked to draw a creature that would save the Antarctic from melting. The artists chose a design “The Ice-Eractic” as named by the originating artist, four-year-old Katy. Penelope and I created an iceberg installation and a large puppet based on her design. Her design brief was that the Ice-Eractic is a long, worm-like, winged, mythical-looking creature that is very kind, and sucks up water at one end and sprays out ice at the other. Artists designed the puppet from the 2-D drawing, then across the summer worked with children on the puppet’s decoration.