Casey Gardner, “Glaciers and Pilgrims, Book III of the Avalanche Safety Series”

Artist Statement

This book is written, drawn, printed, and bound by Casey Gardner.

Glaciers and Pilgrims is the third book of the Avalanche Safety Series. The Avalanche Safety Series follows the story of mountain climber Stella Wilder as she learns about the world and herself while navigating landscapes of risk in an era of unstable, potentially overwhelming times.

Glaciers and Pilgrims is set in the spring of 1939, a time of accelerating global conflict. Stella has joined an expedition to climb Hidden Peak, one of the highest mountains in the world, located in the Karakoram Range of the Himalaya.

To reach the base of Hidden Peak the expedition must travel hundreds of miles on foot through the valleys of Kashmir and up the Baltoro Glacier. The Glacier is a slow moving force of nature, riven with crevasses and laden with centuries of ice and snow. Fed by the mineral-rich snow melt of the mountain range, the Baltoro Glacier is the source of life-nourishing water for the entire Indus Valley region.

Drawn maps, and extensive historical and scientific research provide verisimilitude and context for the story. This book considers the nature of a glacier with its ageless layers of ice, avalanches, mountain debris and perilous crevasses. The Pilgrims’ tales explore the dynamic relationship of human nature and forces of nature.

Akin to a pilgrimage to a transcendent, preternatural destination, the expedition travels up this remote glacial pathway of unseen dangers surrounded by storied peaks and soaring granite towers. Each expedition member has a tale. The pull-out mountain pages section of the book are layered with different paper colors for each of the pilgrims' tales: The Healer's tale, The Climber's Tale, the Sherpa's Tale, The Cartographer's Tale, The Porter's Tale, The Leader's Tale and finally, The Glacier's Tale. Each asks the question, what have I come here for?

casey gardner

California, USA
https://setinmotionart.com/

Glaciers and Pilgrims, Book III of the Avalanche Safety Series
2026

Letterpress printed on Rives de Lin, Colorplan, Gmund and Somerset papers. Handbound with bookboard, book cloth, linen thread.

closed: 7.5 x 1.5 x 13.25; Triptych open: 24.25 x 13.25

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