Sketch of Biscoe House, Deception Island, Antarctica, 2006

Emma Stibbon RA (b. 1962)

RA Collection: Art

This drawing was made on-the-spot by Emma Stibbon during her research trip to the Antarctic in 2006 when the ship she was on board stopped at Deception Island. Biscoe House is an abandoned building originally built for commercial whaling and later used by the British military before being damaged by lava flow in the 1960s. The energy of the charcoal lines depicting Biscoe House gives a sense of movement, almost as if the building was falling apart as it was being drawn. Stibbon explains: ‘working from observation gives me enormous recall - the act of drawing somehow imprints it on my memory. I might carry a roll of paper to make a more sustained drawing, but more often it has to be portable allowing me to draw quickly in the cold and wind’.

Drawing is an essential part of Stibbon’s creative process. Back in the studio, the sketch was used as a basis for the large woodcut, Collapsed Whaling Station, Deception Island, Antarctica. The image was reversed as part of the printing process but many of the original features of the drawing are evident in the final work. Stibbon presented an impression of Collapsed Whaling Station, Deception Island, Antarctica to the Royal Academy as her 'Diploma work' after her election as a Member in 2013.

Quotations from interviews with the artist.