Ice, seals and a paintbrush

Bettina Kaiserhas been travelling through Antartica

A GERMAN born artist now living in Wombarra has literally travelled to the ends of the earth to broaden her skills while trying to open the minds of others to the beauty of an alien landscape.

Bettina Kaiser finished her second stint as an artist in residence on a cruise ship taking tourists to Antarctica a few weeks ago, and compares the experience to travelling into space.

Moving to Australia in 2002 after working as a graphic designer in Germany Mrs Kaiser felt she had to get away from graphic design and back to painting.

Always sharing a love for both ships and art did not hesitate to take up a position on the Russian cruise ship Lyubov Orlovo after stumbling on the opportunity completely by chance.

“I met a lady who had done this thing as an artist in residence on a ship, and I love being in ships and just started teaching,” she said.

“So the next day I ‘Googled’ the name of the organisation who run the cruises and contacted them.

"All of a sudden I found myself in Antarctica.”

Sailing to Antartica on consecutive trips of nine days each Mrs Kaiser would spend five days at a time in Antarctica itself and the rest of the time travelling.

As artist in residence Ms Kaiser’s job was to run workshops, take sketches of the landscape and give lectures. She also had to give an exhibition of her work whilst on the cruise.

“I sold a lot of work on the second trip too,” she said.

“The great thing was that people were getting involved.

"It was great to get people looking at a peaceful environment without looking through a camera lens all the time.”

Two works painted on glass in preparation for her journey were on display this week at West Wollongong TAFE in an exhibition showcasing the talents of former students of the facility.

Ms Kaiser completed an arts course at the West Wollongong TAFE in 2003.