Exclusive: “I’m abandoning Art for Ice,” says Arctic entrepreneur

Campbell has announced her plans to abandon an apparently lucrative career as an artist in a selfless bid to bring “hydro-fabulousness” and environmental ethics to the cocktail bars of Europe. Campbell’s coup de foudre came during a trip to the Arctic to observe the impact of climate change.

“After seeing the glistening icebergs”, Campbell says, “I realised there was only one way to prevent rising sea levels, and that’s if the whole world clubs together to use up all this naughty ice before it melts into the world’s oceans.”

Campbell was drinking tea by a halibut hole with a friendly fisherman when inspiration struck. The Inuit traditionally make tea by chipping small chunks of ice from the glacier to melt in their tin kettles over a fire. “At that moment,” Campbell says, “all I really wanted was a Whisky Mac, and it struck me that the pure glacial ice would top my cocktail off nicely.”

Campbell’s scheme will use ice from the giant glacier Sermeq Kujalleq in Ilulissat, the fastest calving glacier in the world. The area was recently designated a UNESCO heritage site in order to prevent the vulnerable environment from further destruction.

After rigorous tests on selected samples, to dismiss any suspicion that glacial ice has been polluted by industrial waste dumped in Arctic waters, the enormous blocks of ice will be flown to Europe’s capital cities in temperature-controlled conditions, to be broken down into cubes for discerning drinkers. The venture is tipped to bring work to hundreds of Inuit who are currently facing destitution as their traditional means of sustenance through fishing becomes impossible in the changing landscape.

Nancy Campbell has applied to the Enterprise Council for funding for 'Project Arctic Just-Ice' and welcomes enquiries from potential investors.

ALL THAT IS NOT US screens in Hackney

Remembrance Sunday, 2009.
First screening: ALL THAT IS NOT US. Shot on a cold green-grey day in January, cold sea lashing Brighton beach, storm clouds gathering, ALL THAT IS NOT US is a short film that documents a writer's relationship with her novel from love to destruction.

Brett Campbell took the train from London to Brighton with a bag containing all the drafts of Brett's novel, all the accompanying paperwork, a small camera, and an even smaller box of matches. They bought a litre of premium paraffin from a hardware shop on the Lanes and headed to the beach.

Brett wanted to burn the novel, and everything to do with it, as she had loved it but her heart was no longer in it. "Stuffing it away in some drawer would have suffocated it," said Brett. "It was important to set it free. Love is open-handed."


So at 11am on 10 January 2009, sitting on a bank of wet stones overlooking the turbulent sea, Brett unwrapped the ginger cake from its foil, and Campbell poured tea from the Thermos.

A storm was brewing, the sky was yellow, and it looked as if would rain any second. They had discussed the burning many times. It had to be special.

It wasn't just paper that was being burned, it was five and a half years' work: hundreds of hours spent writing out of blind faith, put before social life and relationships and money; phone calls, reading, conversations, a trip to Croatia, all in the name of research, printing in the early hours, waking at 4.30am to write before work, editing on the bus, on trains, in cafes, weekends crossed out in the diary, saying "novel"; life put on hold -- for what?

They had conceived the burning as performances involving metres of rope and local tramps, Baroque head dresses, candles and intricate mermaid-coming-out-of-the-sea dances. But in the end they had decided seaweed would be the only frills, if the sea deemed them worthy. It wasn't about pomp. It was a burning, and that was it. Just the two of them and the flames and the sea. And now it looked as if it may be rained off.

"I think we just do it," said Brett. "Out of the way of people, before it rains. We'll just burn it."

"Where are you going to take your clothes off?" asked Campbell.

"Dunno," said Brett. "By the water, probably." And she picked up the paraffin and the bag and walked off.

"See you there," Campbell shouted but her words were lost to the wind. Campbell felt uneasy. She packed up the Thermos, put the tin foil it in her pocket, felt something cold, pulled out the camera and looked up. Brett was tiny against the wild sea, and it was at that moment that Campbell decided to document the procedings.

What people said:


“I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the film and how thought-provoking it was. It made me think about impermanence, endings, dead ends but also about something deeper inside us, that goes beyond all that. I was so moved.”

“The sounds and images of the ocean and the fire and the burning of something very precious – powerful symbols. Although out of it came this beautiful art I can't help feeling a sense of loss for the work that you put your heart into, and an intense sense of wonder about why you burned it. I want to see it again, because there was so much to digest.”

ALL THAT IS NOT US

Shadow Drawing Workshop

Brett Campbell brought a touch of the eighteenth century to a modern art gallery at the Louise Blouin Institute in West London last weekend in a children's workshop on shadow drawing.

"Magical," said one parent. "A real buzz."

Exploring the use of light, dark and reflection in the works exhibited in the current show 'Design High', curated by Natalie Kovacs, the children created a world of shadows using paper cut-outs, dextrous finger twisting and drawing.

"Very inspiring and empowering," said another parent. "I loved the fact the children created in a space where real art works were on display."

The workshop culminated in a race between the children and their shadows, based on Aesop's The Hare and the Tortoise, and a triumphant march around the gallery.

Future workshops at the Institute led by Brett Campbell will include making palm leaf books and pop-up collages.

For more information or to take part, contact studio@brettcampbell.co.uk

Germinal in Germination

The cardboard box awaits its disguise prior to an overseas mission


No bridal dress was sewn with stitches as fine as these. Over the seas and through the skies on silken threads and linen wings...


Look! A package has come all the way from Mysore for Campbell. Who can it be from?


At last... bunting and rope tricks. Essential equipment for 'Germinal' ...

"The Hair Collection"

Norwegian artist
Kurt Johannessen
has published
the first
photographs
taken of hair
donated by
international artists
including
Brett Campbell.
Beautiful!

Brett Campbell hairs to represent Britain

Hair Brett and Hair Campbell have posted two hairs from their very own barnets to Norway. The hairs will take part in Norwegian artist Kurt Johannessen's "The Hair Collection".

Johannessen is collecting single hairs to appear in exhibitions, performances and books.

"It is important that those who give do so in their own free will," says Johannessen. "I also want them to personally pull out the hair they wish to give me."

Sobriety essential
"We put our hairs through a rigorous selection process," says Campbell. "We insisted on sobriety, love of the cold and sociability. They will be joining hundreds of other hairs in Kurt's project and it's essential they give Britain a good name."

Brett and Campbell have a long standing relationship with hair. Each own over 900 that live at the respective north poles of the artists. [and some at the south too - campbell]

No drunks hairs here
"Our hairs are tough," says Brett. "They've withstood major changes in climate over the past year, not to mention attempted poisoning. We have every confidence they'll deliver the goods for Kurt's project but sobriety was essential.

"It's a long journey to Norway. [Over a week in a small brown envelope.] Drunken brawls in a confined space could have resulted in the hairs escaping en-route. Also, drunken hairs tend to tie others in knots. We hope our hairs will enhance rather than tangle Kurt's project."

Need more hair? See Angel Cuts by Brett Campbell
and "The Hair Collection" by Kurt Johannessen.