The Glacier Drawing Project

“Like a pencil marks paper, a glacier marks the land.”

Jonathan Marquis drawing on the summit of El Capitan in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Photo by Richard Forbes

The Glacier Drawing Project by Jonathan Marquis is a long-term endeavor to bear witness and draw each glacier in Montana before a warming climate melts the ice beyond recognition. The mission is to deepen the understanding and inspire the protection of Montana's glacial wildland resources. Each year, the artist visits new glaciers, revisits others, and often draws from remote mountain summits that grant glimpses into some of Earth's most iconic and intact wilderness geographies. The drawings explore a personal connection with glaciers through color, mark-making, and careful attentiveness.

Alpine glaciers are the lifeblood of the Northern Rockies. Montana has 60 named glacial features – half are in designated wilderness areas, with eleven in the Beartooth Mountains. As of the end of the summer 2023 field season, Marquis has visited and drawn 57. The last three glaciers remaining for the project are in the Beartooth Mountains. Once completed, The Glacier Drawing Project will be the only on-site, hand-drawn visual record of every named glacier in the Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems of Montana.