EXHIBITION AND TALK: 13 SEPTEMBER 2026
Wild World: Living and Working in Antarctica
A day of conservation, craft and storytelling for families, built around two talks from Dr Peter Fretwell of the British Antarctic Survey — the scientist whose satellite work has found almost half the world's known emperor penguin colonies.
This is for children with curious minds and grown-ups who love David Attenborough and the natural world.
No prior knowledge needed, just a bit of curiosity about the coldest place on Earth.
ABOUT THE EVENT
The talk
Dr Fretwell shares what it's really like to live and work in Antarctica — how satellites are used to find and count penguins from space, and what a changing climate means for the wildlife that calls the ice home. He'll be drawing on both his books: The Penguin Book of Penguins, written with illustrator Lisa Fretwell, and his new Antarctic Atlas, publishing just days before the event and mapping the continent's wildlife, geology and human presence in close detail. Runs twice across the day so you can pick the session that suits you.
The exhibition
Alongside the talks, we're running a illustration and storytelling exhibition which features original illustrations and prints from the Penguin Book of Penguins by Lisa Fretwell open to browse all day.
If you'd like to see your own work, or a book you love, considered for the exhibition, get in touch at sneh@solcreativefoundry.com.
Other activities during the day
Make your own penguin
Our drop-in craft table lets kids make their own fabric penguin patch to take home — pre-book or drop-in and pay on the table.
Workshop hosted by Stephanie Norwood, textile enthusiast and artist.
Pop-up cafe by Turtle Dove Cambridge
The team from Turtle Dove Cambridge will be running a pop-up café on the day, so you can buy hot food and drinks on site.
From fresh pizza to delicious cakes and a variety of hot and cold drinks to purchase throughout the day.
Dr Peter Fretwell
Dr Peter Fretwell is a senior scientist in the Mapping and Geographic Information Centre (MAGIC) at British Antarctic Survey (BAS). He leads the Wildlife from Space group and has over the past decade published several ground-breaking remote sensing and GIS studies that have increased our understanding of a range of Polar environments.
He has worked at BAS since January 2002 and spent the first seven years of that career in a mainly cartographic role. That changed in 2009, when by chance he discovered that he could detect emperor penguins using satellite imagery. A number of high-profile science papers followed these discoveries, which led to a change of role to focus primarily on ecological remote sensing, GIS and machine learning, with the main focus on the detection, counting and understanding of polar predators from satellite imagery.
He has led a number of groundbreaking, influential and novel studies on species including emperor penguins, whales and albatrosses. The research led to Peter to creating the ‘Wildlife from Space’ group in 2022, an internal group withing BAS that has won around a dozen research grants in the last five years, funding new high-profile studies on a range of polar wildlife. These projects have employed multiple early career research scientists and many PhD students. He has published over 100 scientific papers and previously wrote the award winning, “Antarctic Atlas”. He has published the “Penguin Book of Penguins” with his wife, Lisa.
Lisa Fretwell
Having taken an arts degree, and a Master’s in art history, Lisa currently teach Art History, stained glass, drawing and felt making classes in Cambridgeshire. Previously, Lisa has exhibited her work in New York, had a touring exhibition around the UK, and exhibited in Gallery and non-Gallery venues in Hertfordshire, Leicester, London and Northamptonshire. In recent years, Lisa has showcased her work in the Cambridge Open Studios events with Cambridge Art Makers in Linton. Lisa has recently exhibited a few original penguin illustrations with Art@One in Hemingford Grey.
Lisa was involved in the publishing of a book called ‘Antarctic Atlas,’ in 2020 which includes my hand drawn illustrations. She sold some original illustrations with Bonham's Auctioneer's from our book, Antarctic Atlas, at St. Bride's Foundation, London in June 2023. The new paperback copy will be available to buy as of September 3 2026.
Lisa have illustrated and edited a new book entitled, 'The Penguin book of penguins' to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of Penguin books, and everything penguin! Prints and original illustrations are now available to buy.
Quote about our book, below:
‘Beautifully written and illustrated’ Matt Merritt, Editor of Bird Watching.