Tjelda Michas-vander Meijden

Present Water

Present Water is a short film (12-minutes) that was created in 2010 to give viewers an insight on how I synthesize my field sketches into larger paintings and prints in the studio.

"In Present Water, Tjelda has brought us a unique perspective on the centrality of water to our lives and to the health of our planet. She conveys her perceptions of the power, the mystery, and the omnipresence of water amid our transient lives and our ever-changing planet."

James Gadsden
Former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland

Behind the Scenes

Antarctic Peninsula
Deception Island is an active volcano with barren volcanic slopes, steaming beaches and ash-layered glaciers.


Deception Island Antarctic Peninsula
Photo credit: Emily Schindler


Penguin Rookeries, Neko Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula
Photo credit: Emily Schindler


Petermann Island, Antarctic Peninsula
Photo credit: Emily Schindler

Greenland


Pituffik Fjord, Greenland
Photo credit: Paul Armstrong


Pituffik Fjord, Greenland
Photo credit: Paul Armstrong

Nunavut High Arctic


Tjelda (L) and Martha Flaherty (R)
Akademik Ioffe is an icebreaking vessel owned by Russia's Academy of Sciences. I met Martha Flaherty on the High Arctic voyage where we shared painting and Inuit stories. During the cold war in the 1950’s Martha’s family and seven other Inuit families from the Hudson Bay were forced to migrate by the Canadian Government under false pretense to Grise Fiord, Ellesmere Island. Martha is the granddaughter of Robert Flaherty, who filmed Nanook of the North (1922) a silent documentary about Inuit families living in the Hudson Bay.


Thule Hut, Pond Inlet, Nunavut High Arctic
Photo credit: Paul Armstrong

x