Dutch glass artist Peter Bremers fell in love with glaciers in the early 2000s after a visit to Antarctica.
“I was fascinated by the icebergs and by the beauty of the landscape,” Bremers said. “They would reflect the light. So if you had the sun going down, they would turn all these orange colors, and then the sun came up and it would be pink and kind of gold – beautiful colors.”
The experience, along with later visits to Iceland and Greenland, led him to do an impressionistic art series using glass sculptures to simulate icebergs.
But in recent years, Bremers became increasingly concerned about the threats of climate change to his beloved icy landscapes.
Global warming accelerated by humans’ burning of fossil fuels has led to unprecedented rates of melting ice.
“We’re losing these beautiful glaciers and icebergs and all of that,” Bremers said. “If we continue this way, our children and grandchildren and generations to come will never be able to see (them).”
His meditations on the issue inspired Bremers’ most recent work, an exhibit at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum of Art called “Ice to Water.” It’s on display through Jan. 19.
The exhibition includes about a dozen sculptures, in various shapes and shades of blue, as well as some photography from Bremers’ travels.
He said the goal is to give visitors the impression that these glaciers in sculpture form are melting.
“Using this optical illusion, this optical effect where you can walk around a sculpture that looks like ice, but you walk around it and you see a change,” he said. “And it changes so much that it almost looks like the ice starts to melt.”
He said that’s possible because of the dynamic nature of glass, a material he’s worked with since the 1980s.
The pieces were carefully shipped over from the Netherlands.
It’s not the first time Norfolk residents can see Bremers’ work. He made the glass rabbit sculptures on display at the Glass Light Hotel downtown, for example.
There are several layers of connection that add to the relevance of Bremers’ work here.
The Chrysler Museum of Art sits along a water body called the Hague, which is named after a Dutch town.
Norfolk officials have also worked closely with Dutch planners and architects to learn from the low-lying country about strategies for living with water. That included a series of workshops in Norfolk called the “Dutch Dialogues” about a decade ago.
Glaciers may seem far away, but their contribution to sea level rise has major implications for coastal communities like Hampton Roads.
Bremers hopes his art will inspire people to take action to curb climate change.
“We can stop this, and we can try to prevent for all of this (ice) to disappear,” he said. “If I can just give people a little bit of awareness of that lost beauty, then I've succeeded in my work.”
“Ice to Water” is on display at the Chrysler Museum of Art through Jan. 19, 2025. Visit the museum’s website for more information.
