Ice Into Ocean: Arctic Tracings
September 18, 2025 ⸺ January 4, 2026
This exhibition is the result of a seven‑year collaboration between Cy Keener and Justine Holzman, exploring how ice shifts and reshapes the landscapes of the Arctic. Through large‑scale drawings, images, and installation, the exhibit investigates the nature and movement of ice and water across this remote environment.
The works trace a range of ice forms, capturing both their complexity and the collaborative scientific effort to measure, map, and understand their changes across the Arctic. One series captures vertical slices of ice and ocean, showing variations in thickness, temperature, and color as ice forms and melts across four different locations over three years. Another set of works follows four icebergs as they journey on winds and currents, capturing their size, shape and coastal paths. An installation captures the shift from ocean to ice at the glacier’s edge, combining data, drawings, images, and sound to reveal its hidden contours and movement. Lastly, a large wall drawing charts the path of a single ice island as it traveled more than 2,000 kilometers from the northern tip of Greenland to the coast of Newfoundland.
Furthermore, Dennos staff hope the exhibition creates dialog between contemporary observations and traditional ways of knowing by drawing upon the museum’s Inuit art collection.
ARTIST BIOS
Cy Keener is an interdisciplinary artist focused on recording and representing the natural world. He is an assistant professor of sculpture and emerging technology at the University of Maryland. Since 2018, he has been collaborating with scientists to document sea ice, icebergs, and glaciers in the Arctic with funding from multiple institutions, including the National Science Foundation. His work includes a range of data-based efforts to visualize diverse phenomena including sea ice, wind, rain, and ocean waves. Through his art practice, Keener aspires to render unseen aspects of climate change visible, fostering a profound understanding of the natural world and the complex climate systems that govern it.
Justine Holzman is a landscape researcher, designer, and educator with a background in landscape architecture. Holzman is currently training as an historian of science at Princeton University where her doctoral work focuses on how knowledge is produced about environments and how landscapes are designed and transformed for scientific research. Working at the intersection of art, design, and science, Holzman’s interdisciplinary scholarship and creative works have contributed to conversations surrounding climate adaptation, green infrastructure, and environmental monitoring.
Image: Cy Keener & Justine Holzman, Iceberg Portraiture. 2022, Aluminum, ink and wax pastel. 84 x 42 in. Detail.
