FINE ARTS

Art and art history professor Betsy Byers collecting audio from the glacier on Volcan Cayambe in Ecuador during the summer of 2019 while on a field research expedition led by a Gustavus science professor and including Gustavus student researchers.

SOLO ART EXHIBITION. COLLABORATIVE SCIENCE.

Associate Professor of Art & Art History Betsy Byers has been awarded one of the inaugural $10,000 “Project Space” grants through the Kolman & Pryor Gallery that will support a solo multimedia exhibition inspired by glacial loss and climate change.

Research for this upcoming solo exhibition was conducted during a field expedition to Ecuador in June 2019. During the trip, Byers and Emily Dzieweczynski ’19 joined Gustavus geography and environmental studies professor Jeff La Frenierre and team as they collected data about glacial melt on Volcan Cayambe. Student researcher Bri Jol ’20 and filmmaker Evan Taylor ’12 also joined the excursion.

The grant award has a simple imperative: support artists in doing whatever work they haven’t done before. Byers’ proposal was for a solo, full-scale installation piece focusing on glacial melt. She’s been working on projects focusing on climate change and glacier loss for the past few years and has done collaborative multimedia projects, but never a solo multimedia project.

“I’m excited about having the opportunity to learn some things I’ve been wanting to learn for a while and having the financial support a grant can provide,” she says. “I’ve been wanting to work with a livestream component, and I’ve also been really intrigued by installation-based work.”

Her plan is for a large-scale installation painting of a glacier that viewers will experience alone, surrounded by blackoutcurtains and lighting. She also intends for a livestream or animated element, and sounds, smell, and touch for a full sensory experience. “I really want a viewer to have this memorable moment,” she says. “I’m trying to create a sense of connection to these landscapes we’re losing.”