freshwater snails

My 2022 artist residency* was on a small lake in northern Michigan. The first night, my kids and I wandered along the sandy beach, marveling at the carpet of snail shells that crunched under our feet as we walked. I’d never seen this many freshwater snails before, and to me it represented the first obvious ecological difference between where I live in coastal NH and where I was spending the summer. So I decided to make this the very first subject of my residency. Some of these species are invasive, some native. They each had such subtle color variation that I decided to play with the color of each, rolling on more color here, some subtle rainbow rolls there.

Freshwater snails is a two-block woodcut handprinted with nontoxic, vegetable oil-based inks on kitakata paper and measures approx 7x7”. Limited run of 23.

*In the summer of 2022 I was lucky enough to participate in an art residency at the University of Michigan Biological Station. In addition to teaching block printing, I had lots of time to explore the gorgeous ecosystems of northern Michigan, learn from the ecologists working there, and create several pieces inspired by my experiences.