In January 2026 I sailed to 77 degrees south as expedition artist aboard Heritage Expeditions' Heritage Adventurer — through the Sub-Antarctic Islands and into the Ross Sea, painting on deck and on land in temperatures that played tricks on my mediums and froze my fingers.
I came home with 30 color studies made on location, a notebook full of sketches, and material that is vivid, physical, and urgent. Antarctica is the most remote landscape on Earth. Almost no one will ever see it. A unified body of large-scale oil paintings originated from direct observation in Antarctica — dedicated to the continent alone, has not been created before. This project is my answer to that — but the window to make it is not indefinite.
These paintings are originated from direct observation. The colour studies were made on location in extreme cold. The sketches carry memory that is still physical and present. The translation of that material into large-scale finished works must happen now, while it lives in my body. Every month that passes is a month of that clarity lost.
Large-scale oil painting cannot be managed in fragments. A single capital work — two meters or more — demands weeks and months of unbroken physical and creative engagement, built in layers, each decision informed by what came before. This kind of work requires the complete removal of financial pressure. It cannot be done while teaching, consulting, or managing other income. It requires dedicated, uninterrupted immersion — and the studio conditions and materials to support it.
This project has been underway for six months, self-funded from my own savings. I am now seeking partners to fund 18 months of dedicated studio time to bring this body of work to completion. The works will be exhibited publicly and appropriate subsets will tour internationally — New Zealand, the United States, London, and other venues. Selected works will be available for private acquisition.
Your contribution funds the conditions that make extraordinary work possible — uninterrupted time in the studio, and required resources, for a painter who has been to the edge of the world and come back with something that needs to be made.
Learn More: https://www.tatyanakulida.com