All Things Polar Art, Photography, and Song: polar beauty and tragic stories 

Exploration, wildlife, ice, snow, and indigenous peoples are what normally come to mind when people think of the polar regions.  Those more creative than I have been inspired to compose songs or create artistic beauty to memorialize how each of these contributes to make the polar regions so unique.  Check out the items below to stimulate your visual and auditory senses.

  • Song-Two songs cement Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition in our musical minds

    • “Northwest Passage” by Stan Rogers, recorded in 1981 on an album by the same name memorializes the search for this “shortcut” to the Orient. It has been “covered” by many others including Patrick O'Hearn, The Real McKenzies, Unleash the Archers, and The Dreadnaughts. The lyrics:

      • Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
        To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
        And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

        Westward from the Davis Strait 'tis there 'twas said to lie
        The sea route to the Orient for which so many died
        Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones
        And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones

        Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
        To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
        And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

        Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland
        In the footsteps of brave Kelsey, where his Sea of Flowers began
        Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
        This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain

        Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
        To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
        And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

        And through the night, behind the wheel, the mileage clicking west
        I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
        Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me
        To race the roaring Fraser to the sea

        Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
        To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
        And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

        How then am I so different from the first men through this way?
        Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away
        To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
        To find there but the road back home again

        Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
        To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
        Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
        And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

      • Sadly, Stan Rogers, a canadian folk singer born in Hamilton Ontario, died at the young age of 33 during a plane flight from Dallas to Toronto.

    • “Lady Franklin’s Lament”, also called “Lord Franklin”, “Franklin the Brave”, and Lord Franklin’s Lament”, was written and released on the album Cruel Sister by British folk group Pentangle in 1970. It has been “covered” by even more artists including greats Paul Clayton, Liam Clancy, Geoff Kaufman, Bill Staines, Cyril Tawney, and others. The haunting lyrics:

      • It was homeward bound one night on the deep
        Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
        I dreamed a dream and I thought it true
        Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew

        With one hundred seamen he sailed away
        To the frozen ocean in the month of May
        To seek a passage around the pole
        Where we poor seamen do sometimes go

        Through cruel hardships they mainly strove
        Their ship on mountains of ice was drove
        Only the Eskimo with his skin canoe
        Was the only one that ever came through

        In Baffin's Bay where the whale fish blow
        The fate of Franklin no man may know
        The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
        Lord Franklin along with his sailors do dwell

        And now my burden it gives me pain
        For my long lost Franklin I'd cross the main
        Ten thousand pounds I would freely give
        To say on earth that my Franklin do live.

    • Three other artists bear mention for their contributions of new age music with polar themes and titles:

      • The Endurance Score by Adam Young, released in 2016 by Sky Harbor Entertainment. The titles chronicle Shackleton’s famous voyage and rescue: 1914-1917.

      • The Ross Sea Suites by Valmar Kurol and Michael Stibor, also in 2016. They also wrote Symphony Antarctica in 2019.

      • At the Mountains of Madness by Phelios in 2019 by the Loki Foundation

  • Art-this broad category encompasses paintings, and drawings old and new, as well as photographic images and indigenous art

    Sweeping landscapes, daring expeditions, myriad snow and ice shapes and colors, glowing borealis’ from the heavens, and captivating wildlife. All of these are reasons that numerous artists have been drawn to the polar regions over the centuries.

    Early polar drawings and paintings were the result of an artist brought along on an expedition for the purpose of chronicling an endeavor. As photography emerged, the camera replaced the pen and brush. One example of early 19th century work is George Beck’s paintings from Franklin’s expedition of 1819-1822; These are captured in Arctic Artist, edited by Stuart Huston, 1994. Another source of early artist information: White Horizons: British Art from Antarctica, 1775-2006, by David W.H. Walton and Bruce Pearson. (from the British Antarctic Survey for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXIX, 2006).

    One of the most famous polar artists, William Bradford (1823-1892), was the first American to paint frozen Arctic scenes in the mid-19th century. Bradford painted while accompanying Isaac Israel Hayes on an expedition to the north, then retired to London to complete his works; his paintings can be found in famous museums around the world. Another well known expedition artist of the heroic age of exploration was Edward Wilson, of Scott’s Terra Nova fame. Sadly, Wilson perished with Scott during their failed return from the pole, but much of his artwork lives on in his home town at the Cheltenham Museum, in Cheltenham U.K. He was especially fond of painting birds; a watercolor labelled “Tree Creeper, March 1899” was found during restoration of the Cape Adare Hut, by the New Zealand Antarctic Trust in 2017.

    Photography found its way to the Arctic in the mid 19th century with the first documented survived images from Belcher's expedition, 1852–1854, snapped by Dr. William Domville, spring 1852. Photographers of early 20th century expeditions brought home stunning images. These photographers included Herbert Ponting (Scott Terra Nova) and Frank Hurley (Shackleton Endurance).

    Indigenous art work including drawings, prints, and sculpture comes in many forms. In the case of the Inuit, small pieces of “art”, made from natural materials, were likely the works of early Shamans and healers for ritualistic purposes. More recently, Inuit carvings made early on as toys, started to garner interest from Europeans in the mid-19th century. They became important items of trade: “tourist” pieces. The rest is history and Inuit Art is now its own genre. Further information: Discover Inuit Art.

    Another group of indigenous, the Sami from northern Scandinavia and Russia, are also known for their art: The Mysticism of Sami Art and Sami Art. Probably the definitive work on Sami Folk Art, available used from numerous sources, is Sami Folk Art. Ten Thousand Years of Folk Art in the North, by Tinna Mobjerg, Asger Jorn, Jens Rosing, Photography by Gerard Franceschi. It was published in 2006 by König.

    The following links both showcase indigenous art and/or offer pieces for sale:

  • Canada-Inuit and Dene

  • Scandinavia-Sami

  • The Scott Polar Research Institute Store has a number of polar related art and photography books for sale.

  • Check out these additional links of current day artists and support your favorite pick:

  • Polar Artist Group-like minded artists interested in all things polar

  • National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program-currently suspended for 2022; see the Antarctic Artists and Writers Collective for projects and recent events

  • Current artists