Arctic Wonders Series (1/3)

Part of a series exploring zooplankton in a warming Arctic, Bloom captures the bloom of Chrysaora melanaster—a jellyfish species thriving in altered ecosystems shaped by climate change.

Created for the permanent Change exhibition with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions, this work depicts the northern sea nettle (Chrysaora melanaster) rising in a bloom through turquoise Arctic waters at sunset. Once limited by cold conditions, this jellyfish now thrives in warming, increasingly polluted seas.

Part of a larger series, the painting highlights the diversity and ecological significance of zooplankton—drifting organisms that form the foundation of the oceanic food web and produce nearly half of Earth’s oxygen. In the rapidly changing Arctic, some species surge while others collapse, mirroring the instability of the broader climate system.

This work invites curiosity about these rarely seen life forms, whose adaptations—and vulnerabilities—speak to the resilience and fragility of life in a transforming world.

Special thanks to National Geographic, Lindblad, and all the biologists who made this painting possible. Most of all, Steven Haddock and Wyatt Patry from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Bart Shepard from the CA Academy of Sciences, and Alexander Semenov at Moscow State University’s White Sea Biological Station, and Charlotte Havermans from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research.