Nick Romeril recently spent four weeks on board HMS Protector travelling 3,500 miles around the continent, where he documented the landscape with drawings and photographs.
Earlier this year Mr Romeril was selected for the voyage from a shortlist of four British artists after he applied last October for the position with the Association of Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute.
‘One of the greatest parts of the whole trip was the experience of being on a Navy ship,’ he said.
‘The crew treated me openly and engaged with the projects I aimed to achieve. On one occasion, they arranged for a RIB to take me close to some of the colossal “blue bergs” [ancient icebergs].
‘You can’t comprehend the sheer scale of the icebergs and blue bergs out there. Some of them come up 2,000 metres out of the sea and because the ship we were on could cut through the ice, it made the experience even more incredible,’ he added.
During the residency Mr Romeril made more than 200 small paintings and drawings, a virtual-reality film and also kept a diary of his time on board the 89-metre ice patrol ship.
Mr Romeril, who is a mixed-media artist and sculptor, has a wide portfolio ranging from the Jersey cows etched on stainless steel panels that grace the façade of the Jersey Dairy to local seascapes and dune-scapes. He has also painted Swiss mountains and Alpine landscapes.
Mr Romeril has exhibited extensively in Jersey as well as in London, Switzerland, the United States and France.
His first exhibition following the trip will be held in Jersey, as part of the Skipton Open Studios series, on a date to be fixed at the end of June. He will be exhibiting a few of the paintings and studies as well as the first draft of the virtual-reality film.
The second, larger show will be held at London auction house Bonhams on 26 July, where several large paintings, studies and the virtual-reality movie are due to be displayed.
Further shows are planned in London and Switzerland for 2019.
