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Myrtha Vega: Iceberg & Glaciers Series

Jun 10, 2023 - Aug 5, 2023
12pm - 5pm

About the Exhibition

“The Iceberg & Glaciers Series is the result of my interest in the impact of climate change on ice sheets, glaciers and icebergs. I am making a pictorial statement of an existing ecological problem.

A glacier is a large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley, spreading outward on the land surface from its own weight and gravity. An iceberg is a large mass of ice “calved” from a glacier.  I view them each as living creatures with a life cycle: glaciers calf and give birth to icebergs which live freely, floating in the oceans, and dying when they melt…. the home of seals, walruses, penguins, polar bears, and other living things.

I am fascinated by the way the life cycle of glaciers and icebergs produces so many diverse shapes and designs on these enormous floating islands: tabular, blocky, dome or pinnacle to mention a few. Each has its own beauty and character, casting shadows, having cracks with different blues. Some are mysterious and intriguing with caves, tunnels and inviting arches.  Dark sediments add a human aspect to their beauty forming lines in the ice, appearing to be drawn by human hands. It is hard to imagine how beautiful white can be. Ice absorbs and reflects the color of the sky adding its own intrinsic color, showing different blue hues.

I try to depict on the canvas the quiet, solitude of the landscape surrounding those glaciers, which is broken only by the loud growling, moaning and groaning of their pain when they are calving.”

–Myrtha Vega

Above: “Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina, Panoramic 2,” 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 20 inches, by Myrtha Vega

Facts

Ordinary ice is white or clear, never very thick, while glacial ice has a distinctive blue tinge and may contain streaks or coatings of sediment.  Most North American icebergs come from Greenland and are usually peaked and irregular in shape while Antarctic icebergs generally have flat tops and steep sides.

Glaciers cover 10% of the Earth’s surface and appear on every continent, even Africa, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). There is some risk that glaciers may eventually all but disappear from the Earth if climate change continues to occur.

About Myrtha Vega

Myrtha Merlo Vega (b. 1933) received a degree in architecture from the University of Havana in 1957, followed by an MA in landscape architecture from the University of Michigan in 1965. In Cuba, she worked in the office of Arroyo and Menéndez, and later, Mario Romañach in the Havana City Planning Commission.  Vega’s private practice commenced in 1957, with the design of furniture for private clients, and the supervision of several exhibitions including the Operación Industria Cubana, The Cuban Pavilion at the third New York World Trade Fair, and the Acción Ferrocarril.  Additionally, Myrtha was the designer of public schools at the Cuban Public Works Department, as well as designer and construction supervisor of the Cuban Tourist Commission Office in Havana.

In 1961, Myrtha Vega relocated to Miami, Fl and worked for the firms of Lapidus, Harle and Liebman, followed by Pancoast, Ferendino, Skeels & Burnham.  After graduating from the University of Michigan, she worked in Montreal for Project Planning Associates on the Expo 67 World Exhibition.  From 1977 – 1999 Vega practiced interior design in Atlanta, with Stevens & Wilkinson, Carlsten & Associates and Perkins & Will, designing commercial office spaces and hospital interiors including Emory University and the Crawford Long Hospital.  Since 1999 Myrtha has been a full time, Atlanta-based artist.