Art meets Science below the freezing point by Dr. Wasilewski

Please join us for the opening reception on July 1st, 5-7pm.

Show duration will be from June 28 to August 1, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frozen Visions called Frizions (frizz-yons) are digital photographs of ice as it freezes and melts when viewed through polarized light. Vivid colors and imaginative shapes emerge. The visual magic happens when this thin ice becomes the canvas I began to control the way the ice grows, into forms I desired, always with color as my guide. Simple forms, detailed and complex forms, and forms that simply happened, as though I imagined them, established my medium. Ice growth became the landscape, and thickness and the polarizer sheet morphed into my color palette.

Dr. Wasilewski spent most of his professional career at NASA studying the structure of the crust of the earth and the magnetic history of the solar system. After graduating from George Washington University, he turned down a contract to play football for the “Baltimore Colts” to participate in an expedition to the world’s largest piece of ice – Antarctica. He was captivated with the frozen continent and has since gone back on 6 different expeditions battling the elements trying to keep warm at temperatures reaching 30 degrees below zero while mapping never-before-explored regions to explore the continent and collect meteorites on the pale blue ice near the Trans-Antarctic mountains.   Near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, there stands an ancient volcano that bears his name – Mount Wasilewski.

During his trips to Antarctica, Peter sampled the ice and learned how the ice crystals, all with uniquely different ice crystal shapes, air bubble content, and thickness can, by using polarized light, reveal amazing color patterns. This experience and his passion for understanding the science and beauty of ice led to his exploration of the connections between science and art resulting in his creation of a ‘Frizion’. This novel art form is created by controlling emerging color patterns while water is freezing or thawing and capturing the patterns digitally viewed with polarized light. Frizions have been exhibited in various galleries in the United States and Canada. A permanent exhibit can be visited at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Wasilewski is currently a Scientist Emeritus at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and for the past five years has been traveling the world as a lecturer on cruise ships. He received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at George Washington University and a Doctor of Science at the University of Tokyo.