Captain Scott’s grand daughter Dafila Scott

 

I just had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Captain Scott’s granddaughter Dafila Scott due to her inviting my wife and I to a private Champaign preview of her art at the Wilson Museum, Cheltenham.

 

I can recommend that anyone in the Cheltenham area between now and the end of the month should find some time to come along to her exhibition which is free to see during museum opening hours.  

 




 

 

  1ST OCTOBER 2022 – 30TH OCTOBER 2022

·                                 Dafila Scott, A Voyage to the Ross Sea and Beyond

Exploration has been a theme running through humanity from the dawn of time. From ancient civilisations setting sail to discover new lands and to explore what was over that distant horizon, to generations within touching distance of us today continuing to explore uncharted territories.

Exploration is a major theme of the newly refurbished and recently reopened Wilson Art Gallery and Museum in the heart of Cheltenham. The new Sir Charles Irving Community Art Gallery is delighted to host artist and zoologist Dafila Scott.

Dafila is the granddaughter of the legendary Captain Scott of the Antarctic. The Royal Naval officer and explorer led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions, the Discovery expedition of 1901 to 1904, and the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition of 1910 to 1913.

On this fateful expedition, Scott wished to continue the scientific work he had begun when leading the Discovery expedition and wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four companions, including Edward Wilson, after which The Wilson is named, reached the pole on 17 January 1912 where they found that a Norwegian team, led by Roald Amundsen, had beaten them by 34 days. The party died on the return journey from the pole. Some of their bodies, journals and photographs were found by a search party months later.

The exhibition, A Voyage to the Ross Sea and Beyond, documents Dafila Scott’s journey to McMurdo Sound, close to the hut at Cape Evans, from which her grandfather set out to reach the South Pole more than a century ago.

This new exhibition opens on Saturday 1 October in the Sir Charles Irving Community Art Gallery running until 30 October 2022. In keeping with the all the galleries and exhibitions at The Wilson, A Voyage to the Ross Sea and Beyond is free to visit. Visitors are encouraged to donate what they consider the exhibition is worth as every donation helps The Cheltenham Trust, as a charity, to continue to provide art, history and heritage for all to enjoy.

Dafila writes about watching the sea freeze: “The temperature was minus 12C and it looked as if the sea was smoking. First, the sea surface took on a greasy look, then within 20 minutes, there were small pancakes of ice, which gradually amalgamated forming larger pancakes and these in turn eventually formed a sheet of ice. “

On her return home, with many drawings in her sketchbooks, Dafila spent the next three months painting. Her work depicts the subtleties of colour she saw in, and on, the ice as well as the wildlife.

Dafila has made two trips to the southern-most part of the earth. In 2011 she was artist in residence for the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute, and in March 2020 she spent five weeks on a voyage to the Ross Sea, Antarctica.

Come and explore the wilderness and wildlife of Antarctica through Dafila’s paintings and take in the full experience that The Wilson offers including its redisplayed galleries that inspire and inform, and its new Kitchen arts café that brings The Wilson’s acclaimed collections to life.

We look forward to welcoming you.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Polar Crean Tom Crean Antarctic Explorer isbn 9781901037197

Image
  Polar Crean  Tom Crean Antarctic Explorer  isbn 9781901037197 Ebay Link https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255944200732 This is a first edition case bound hardback, which contains a number of  Photographs and maps of Antarctica which appeared with a Tom Crean feature after his death by Dennis Barry.   The rest of the book contains photos showing Discovery just fitted out from the News and Views section in the Black and White Budget Magazine 1901, The exploration of the South Pole. The wonders of the coming Discovery  as part of Anglo-Germanic Expedition by Sir Henry Leach.   Sport in the Antarctic: The games that were played by the Men  of the “Discovery” by Bernard C. Carter and  Animal Life in the Antarctic by S Kemp <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85105517-
Read more

The last days of ernest shackleton on the Quest isbn 9781901037210

Image
 The last days of Ernest Shackleton isbn: 9781901037210 £35 Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256112375195 The Last Days of Ernest Shackleton, is a unique and fully illustrated account of Shackleton’s death and burial in South Georgia from the personal point of view of a seaman on the Quest Expedition by the name of George Ross. George joined the Quest Expedition, at a place called Leith Harbour, in South Georgia, with the position donkey-man (a person in charge of a ships engine room) and he explains in detail the daily running of the ship after Shackleton’s death as a first hand account from a below decks crew members point of view. Along with George’s first hand account the book covers both the funeral arrangements, the Shetland Pallbearers, a short history of Shackleton’s Scouts, and the speeches at the unveiling of the Shacketon memorial.  This along with photos, maps, paintings and drawings of the expedition, crew, ship, Grytviken church, funeral and grave. To finish off t...
Read more

The Terra Nova journals by Francis Davies Leading Shipwright RN ..Captain Scotts 1910 to 1913 Antarctic Expedition

Image
  The Terra Nova Journals by  Francis Davies Leading Shipwright RN Covering the 1910 to 1913 Antarctic Expedition I have now turned these journals into a fully illustrated book showing from the crew’s point of view of life below decks. Click Here for Order Details http://www.antarcticbookshop.com/special.htm £175 incl Free UK delivery direct from publishers      Never seen before maps on Antarctica from private collections Top review from the United States Xavier Ninnis 5.0 out of 5 stars   An Embarrassment of Riches! Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2021 What an unexpected treat, this along with the release of Angie Butler/Beau Riffenburgh’s biography and diaries of Eric Marshall, makes this, for those with an interest (for many, including myself, more an obsession) in Antartica’s "Heroic Age of Exploration," the richest, most exciting period since last decade's spate of releases concerning Mawson’s "Aus...
Read more

Big Business Events on buying a golden key to being a millionaire

Image
  Big Business Events OK perhaps not for me, but I was so disappointed and it kept reminding me of the old time share events we all used to attend.   I was sent an invite for a free business event and owning a publishing company this is normal.   What is not so normal is the hidden costs.   Parking in a hotel car park costs £10 for all day!   Did I have to pay? well no I hide the car in the delivery area where the event organizers also hide their cars.   The setting up staff were very rude when I was looking if there was a welcoming drink.   The hotel staff did feel sorry for me and did me a cup of tea.   The meeting was 9am to 5pm and with no drinks or snacks! 8 hours and no offer of refreshment!   If you wanted a biscuit or coffee you had to go out and buy it. Now they did do a snack at lunch time with a special talk with the speakers … But only if you upgraded your ticket from free to VIP at a cost of abou...
Read more

New Books On Antarctica

Image
New Books On Antarctica from Reardon Publishing You can contact me direct if you want to order a book or should be able to locate the books on Amazon THE POLAR BOOK £35 isbn 9781901037180  The Polar Book created as a facsimile of a now very scarce publication for the British Polar Exhibition of 1930 that celebrated the history of Polar discoveries and expeditions of the day.  This is the first edition as a case bound hardback, complete with two coloured maps designed by John Bartholomew.  This book celebrates Polar discoveries and expeditions, with chapters on the history of Polar discoveries, geophysics, geology, flora and fauna along with equipment needed and used at the time.  Contributors: G T Atkinson and H R Mil. The Foreword is by L.C. Bernacchi.   Louis Charles Bernacchi ( 8 November 1876  -  24 April 1942 ), a physicist and astronomer, is best known for his role in several expeditions to the Antarctic. He joined Carstens Borchgrevink's Souther...
Read more

Sea Chest from Shakleton's Endurance Expedition

Image
  An interesting old sea chest that can not be what it says it is. SHIPS PHOTOGRAPHER IMPERIAL TRANS-ANTARCTIC   EXPEDITION  ENDURANCE   A pointless fake or old movie prop? It is like finding luggage from the Titanic, who would believe it to be real?  Its history can be traced back some 70 years where during those years it has resided in  Southampton ,  England . Now it makes a wonderful piece of vintage decorative furniture   A large antique steamer chest.   An English, canvas bound travel trunk with Drawco patent steel, dating to the  Edwardian  period, circa 1910. Generously sized trunk from the golden age of voyages a aged patina Wooden frame with durable black textured fascia Crafted with Drawco steel hoops for a dependable, lightweight trunk The interior finished with a light textile and striking pinstripe pattern This is a generously sized and appealing antique steamer chest, from a golden era of grand tours and so...
Read more

Antarctic Books

Image
Antarctic Booklist  BOOK AND CD  Music from Antarctica ISBN: 9781873877524 £14.99 These songs and poems were composed during the Relief Voyage of the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The music was composed by Lieut. G.S. Doorly and the lyrics by Chief Engineer Morrison and other officers, including Ernest Shackleton.  The CD is a result of collaboration by New Zealand musicians and actors to mark the centenary of the voyage of the "Morning" to relieve Captain Scott and company aboard the "Discovery" in 1902. The royalties for this publication are being divided between the Dundee Heritage Trust's Antartic 100 "Discovery" Restoration Fund for work on the restoration of "Discovery", and the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust for preservation work on the expedition's hut and its contents. ISBN: 9781873877524 Polar Crean isbn 9781901037197 £30.00 This is a first edition case bound hardback, which contains a number of Photo...
Read more

Lots of myths on Byrds Operation Highjump in Antarctica

Image
Lots of myths on Byrds Operation Highjump like flying underground which can be ignored, but some interesting things have been said in the film documentaries of the day. Where are the walls of coal that were talked about in the late 1940s? I know the USA were very interested in claiming mining rights in the 1940s but walls of coal? And warm water lakes? As for the fresh warm water lakes that have started many a myth at a guess, I would say not warm but above freezing melt water lakes of Queen Mauds land, which were mapped by the German expedition in 1936. For those interested in the mapping of these lakes should read my book Antarctic Exploration Germany in Antarctica isbn 9781901037111. One surprise to me when looking at the films made at the time is the aircraft having enough fuel to fly to Queen Mauds land from Little America and back again in 1947. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9chz8COYVc ISBN 9781901037111  
Read more

Following Edward Wilson into the Unknown, Dr Edward Wilson English Polar Explorer, Ornithologist, Physician and artist died in Antarctica in 1912. isbn 9781901037272

Image
  Following Edward Wilson into the Unknown, Dr Edward Wilson English Polar Explorer, Ornithologist, Physician and artist died in Antarctica in 1912. isbn 9781901037272 The discovery of a bird painting by Edward Wilson, who died with Scott on their return from the South Pole, hit the headlines in 2017. The bird was a dead treecreeper, an insignificant inhabitant of European woodland. Why was it there? This author had carried a treecreeper photo in his wallet for seven years after emigrating to New Zealand in 1960, to remind him of home. The coincidence led to a search of Wilson's portfolio, producing 150 paired images; many were weird - grooves on a bird's toenails? Dingle beach, Ireland; same time of day, same tide level, directly into a red sun? Coincidences in their characters came next: both learned art from their parents, at university they looked and dressed like twins, graduated with first class honours in Natural History, won prizes in diving, taught Sunday schools, and ...
Read more

Vampire: a vampire society that lives just out of sight of humans but close enough to get a midnight snack

Image
VAMPIRE by Amy Mah ISBN:  9781874192619 In full colour paperback   ~  ISBN: 9781874192626 black and white paperback  and  full colour kindle In the Bat Cave bedroom read about Amy click below: www.amymahblog.wordpress.com This very funny vampire novel is very different from your normal vampire book and not just because it is bursting with full colour art fitted in with the text showing the life of a young vampire forced to walk about in a transparent nightdress all day without underwear because that is what female vampires are supposed to do! www.fangsrule.co.uk Video: click here “The massacre on 22nd and 3rd was greatly exaggerated by the human newspapers and not altogether my fault. It was my very first hunting trip, and a girl should not be judged by her first bite night. And no one ever talks about me saving the life of that cat. Besides, most of them kind of killed themselves without any help from me.......
Read more