Art and Environment: Emma Stibbon's "Melting Ice / Rising Tides" exhibition at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne reflects on climate change

For many years, climate change has been a pressing concern among scientists and environmentalists, especially regarding its significant impact on sea level rise and the transformation of landscapes and environments in polar regions, notably the Arctic and Antarctic.

Stibbon's Dark Horizon, 2023

Emma Stibbon, a prominent contemporary British artist renowned for her poignant landscape drawings and prints, has dedicated her artistic exploration to themes of environmental change and the human footprint on natural landscapes.

Emma Stibbon conducting fieldwork in Svalbard, 2022. 
Photo by Tristan Duke.
Stibbon had travelled for many years on board ships to the Polar regions where she recorded the seascapes, vast ice fields and rubular bergs through ink drawings and photography to capture the ever-changing landscapes. After her return to her studio, she develops these sketches into large scale drawings or prints.

Now, Stibbon's profound observations find expression in her latest exhibition, "Melting Ice / Rising Tides," currently showing at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne. This exhibition invites viewers to immerse themselves in Stibbon's reflections on the warming polar regions and their consequential effects on the shifting coastlines of the United Kingdom.

Stibbon's pinhole photographic prints on bromide paper showing melting ice from her recent expeditions to the High Arctic's Svalbard and Antarctica's Weddell Sea.  Photo by Lucia Carpio.

In Stibbon's works she also captures rock falls, beach closures and necessary erosion mitigation in the UK's southern shores, including the closure of Hope Gap steps (Seaford) as in the image above.
Photo by Lucia Carpio.

Stibbon's artistic vision is driven by a blend of reverence for nature's grandeur and concern for our planet's uncertain future. Through large-scale paintings and prints inspired by her recent expeditions to the High Arctic's Svalbard and Antarctica's Weddell Sea, she weaves a narrative of coastal dynamics, metamorphosis, and erosion.

Stibbon's Ice Floe 2023

Emma Stibbon's Cliff Fall, 2024, installation in the "Melting Ice / Rising Tides," exhibition in 
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK.

The exhibition's centerpiece, "Cliff Fall, 2024," is a breathtaking installation—an 8-meter-wide lifelike drawing of a Sussex cliff face. Accompanied by a reconstruction depicting the gradual erosion and cascading chalk rocks into the gallery space, it confronts viewers with the visceral impact of coastal degradation.

Cliff erosion is an increasingly frequent phenomenon along the UK coastline, particularly evident in the South of England, including East Sussex. Driven by natural forces such as wave action, tidal currents, and wind erosion, the relentless assault of waves on the shoreline gradually reshapes the land, a process heightened by storms and high tides.

Emma Stibbon with her Breaker painting, 2023, now on show at Towner Eastbourne.
Photo by Lucia Carpio.

On the wall facing the "Cliff Fall" installation is "Breaker, 2023," a painting vividly capturing the assault of waves upon the shoreline. Positioned amidst crashing waters and the looming, precarious cliff, viewers are enveloped in an immersive experience that underscores the relentless power of coastal dynamics.

Stibbon's Beachy Head 2024

Stibbon expressed her desire to connect the drawings and prints created during her expeditions to Antarctica and across the Barents Sea to Svalbard in the High Arctic with the climate-related changes occurring along the UK coastline.

The Towner Gallery is located in Eastbourne, renowned for its proximity to the iconic Seven Sisters cliffs, a landscape increasingly vulnerable to cliff failure due to wave erosion and extreme weather events. Stibbon extensively explored and walked the Sussex coastline, documenting landmarks such as Beachy Head and Birling Gap to create comparative studies that illustrate the extent of shoreline and cliff retreat.

Photo by Lucia Carpio

During her fieldwork, Stibbon also collected materials to incorporate into her artwork, using salt and seawater in her wave drawings and ground chalk for her cliff drawings, thereby emphasizing the intrinsic connections between materials and place.

Also on show in the "Melting Ice / Rising Tides," exhibition at the Towner are archive paintings of the East Sussex coastline, including Beachy Head and Cuckmere, by celebrated artists Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942), Eric Slater (1896-1963) and Albert Goodwin (1845-1932) from the gallery's own collection to illustrate the changes of the region over the years.  

Melting Ice/Rising Tides by Emma Stibbon is on show at Towner Eastbourne until September 15th 2024.

Visually-stunning video by Cristina Picchi to celebrate CLASS's Sustainability Values

Award-winning Italian artist and director Cristina Picchi’s films have been screened at festivals and galleries worldwide, including Venice, Locarno, and Clermont-Ferrand. Recognition includes a Silver Leopard in Locarno and a nomination at the European Film Awards for Best Short Film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpamN2JX6BY


A recipient of the EMAN/EMARE residency programme in Montreal, the Quartier21 residency programme at the Museums Quartier in Vienna, and a Berlinale Talents alumnus, Cristina Picchi recently created this emotional video-portrait of  C.L.A.S.S. to celebrate the Milan-based organisation’s values and enduring mission; Heritage, Smart Innovation, Circular Economy, and Design Responsibility towards preserving the environment.  It is so relevant in today's world when life as we know it has changed so drastically and being aware of environmental concerns should be at the core of everything we do.

Lenzing launches EcoVero™ - new standard in eco-responsible viscose

Lenzing introduced their EcoVero™ viscose fibres to the global textile and fashion industry at the international Premiere Vision Paris show in September 2017.

Acknowledging that the fashion industry requires more transparency, while consumers today expect responsible retailers and brands to know their supply chains and be able to trace product origins, the Austrian company - Lenzing - a stock exchange-listed cellulose fibres manufacturer - has announced the launch of a new standard brand - EcoVero™  - to set the new benchmark in viscose fibres.

Garments made of Lenzing™ EcoVero™ on show at Premiere Vision Paris in September 2017.

With a special manufacturing system, Lenzing can identify Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres in the final garment, long after the textile processing and conversion steps have been completed.  This ability means that retailers and brands can rest assure that the eco-responsible viscose fibers used in their garments can be verified and authenticated as the original , and not just any generic viscose that might not be in line with their sustainability goals. 

Lenzing CCO, Robert van de Kerkhof said in a press conference held at the Premiere Vision international textile fair held in Paris in September that for too long consumers have been concerned with environmental threats raised in the so-called "dirty fashion" report, and other issues such as marine litter, pollution and waste, growing water scarcity, accelerating climate change have affected consumer confidence.

Lenzing VP of Textile, Amit Gautam, added that value chain transparency is a trend seen not only in the textile industry but also in the food industry.  While consumers' awareness of the environment is increaing, they are more and more interested in the origin of the products they buy.  

Lenzing™ EcoVeroTM fibres set a new industry standard in sustainable viscose based on the use of these sustainable wood sources (FSC® or PEFC® certified) and an ecological production process with significantly lower emissions and water impacts than conventional viscose.

With this special identification technology for Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres, Lenzing provides a one-of-its-kind solution for the fashion industry and its supply chain to respond to consumer demands for reliable visibility of product origins that can be traced back to the fibre, said Lenzing's Gautam.  He said Lenzing enforces strict environmental standards during viscose production and has invested heavily over the years to achieve eco-resposible production processes.  Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres, which are made from wood that comes from sustainable forestry plantations,  are certified with the EU Ecolabel, a world-leading environmental manufacturing standard which is awarded only to products that have a significantly lower net environment impact to comparable products in the market.

Well known retailers are teaming up with Lenzing to advance their sustainability strategies with traceable Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres.

For one Scandinavian retailer, Gina Tricot, Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres are the solution for viscose fibres.   Fashion photos shown here are examples from their current collection.

Gina Tricot's Brand Director Anna Appelqvist (pictured here) said at the Lenzing press conference in Paris, "Supply chain transparency is getting to be for us more and more important as customers want to know which kind of material is used for their garments. 

"As viscose is a very important fibre for our womenswear range, the new identification technology from Lenzing used in EcoVero™ fibres will mean we will have full supply chain transparency and our customers will welcome that and can be assured that they are buying eco-responsible viscose garments", she said adding that they are launching new T-shirts with this special EcoVero fibres this autumn. 

Another retailer from Sweden, Lindex are also considering to take Lenzing™ EcoVero™ fibres into their collection. "EcoVero™ fibres show concern for the origin of raw material as well as having a reduced environmental impact in the production process. We hope that this initiative will drive the development towards producing more sustainable viscose in the industry", explains Production Sustainability Manager Anna-Karin Dahlberg.

Lenzing's initiative is also supported by the German brand ARMEDANGELS, as its CEO Martin Höfeler had commented that as a radically responsible fashion brand this is a great match for them and they are excited to be working with Lenzing to include EcoVero™ in their future product range.