Todd Anderson: The Oldest Ice on Earth

Todd Anderson was born in Minnesota, USA. Anderson received a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MFA from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Over the course of several years, he apprenticed at Tandem Press eventually becoming a fine art collaborative master printer. Today, Anderson balances a vigorous studio practice with university teaching. Anderson’s artwork has been acquired by notable institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Afriterra Library, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, the Asheville Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, Stanford and Yale Universities, and the U.S. Library of Congress. Anderson’s artworks have been exhibited more than 150 times nationally and internationally including at Art Basel Miami, the New York Affordable Art Fair, Scope London, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His collaborations with photographer Ian Van Coller are numerous and include this project.

Todd Anderson and Ian van Coller deployed to the Antarctic as participants in the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program (AAWP). They flew from McMurdo station to the deep camp at the foot of the Allan Hills where blue ice from the East Antarctic ice cap meets the mountains and pushes up very old ice. During the 2019/2020 field season ice was cored at the camp and found to be 2 million years old, the oldest at the time. Van Coller photographed the camp, the drilling, and the surrounding landscape while Anderson prepared materials to be used to create woodblock prints. The photographs and prints were the basis for their collaborative artist book, The Oldest Ice on Earth, published in a limited edition in 2023.

The materials in this archive are intended to show stages of progression in woodblock printing. For that purpose, Todd Anderson chose the print titled Tanner Kuhl: Blue Ice Drill operator, Antarctica. Materials include a promotional flyer, preliminary drawings, and progression prints.

• CAE1103: Joan Myers: Wondrous Cold, An Antarctic Journey
• CAE1107: Stephen Eastaugh: Antarctic Work
• CAE1112: Simon Balm: Stellar Axis, Antarctica
• CAE1116: Chris Drury: Antarctica
• CAE1117: William L. Fox: Terra Antarctica
• CAE1202: David Rosenthal: Paintings of the North and South Polar Regions
• CAE1217: Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid: Ice Music
• CAE1218: Jean de Pomereu: Antarctic Photographs
• CAE1219: Stuart Klipper: The Antarctic: From the Circle to the Pole
• CAE1307: Chris Kannen: An Antarctic Extended Season
• CAE1605: Anna McKee: 68,000 Years of Ice
• CAE1806: Bruce Licher: Stamping Antarctica
• CAE1903: David Arnold: Antarctic Re-Explorations
• CAE1910: Helen Glazer: Walking in Antarctica
• CAE1911: Donald Fortescue: Instrument (90°S)
• CAE2013: Shaun O’Boyle: Polar Environments
• CAE2108: Martin Walch: Another Time: Temporal Rhythms in the Antarctic Summer
• CAE2214: David Ruth: Antarctic Cast Glass
• CAE2202: Patricia Suchy and Vince LiCata: Persistence of Vision: Antarctica