Bringing the Wild Inside One Story at a Time

Caribou Sky, inspired by a folktale about the caribou and their connection to the seasonal cycle of the sun which draws loosely from several ancient stories from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, including many elements from indigenous Sami folklore. Here photographed in the process of being carved.

Summer 2023 Newsletter

August 21, 2023

Sharing several new handmade prints in my shop! Each print contains a precious folktale from the past, a mythos, reminding us of our ancient and intimate kinship with the wild, expressed with a multitude of endearing voices of the earth. Whether it is the sound of clanking antlers, or the mischievous pecking of a black crow, or the whisper of a tiger’s whiskers these heartwarming stories lyrically weave us into the circle of life and remind us of our extraordinary human imagination.

The Owl Lover: When the Wild Courts Us

August 10, 2023

An endearing love story about a rare white Great Horned Owl who falls in love with a human woman, retold by Joseph Bruchac in his book Wabi: A Hero’s Journey. This Abenaki folktale suggests that nature is courting us, that there is a a romance taking place. . .a precious mythos from ancient times about the intimate and tender relationship between humans and the wild.

The Medial Thread: Between The Cauldron and the Crow

July 26, 2023

In a quiet cave beyond time, an Old Woman weaves the world with fibers dyed from root and blossom, only to have it unraveled again by Trickster Crow. Yet she does not despair. She gathers the threads and begins anew, each tapestry carrying a different pattern, a new possibility. This enduring White Mountain Apache folktale echoes in the folklore of many landscapes around the world reminding us that creation and destruction are not enemies, but dance partners in the rhythm of renewal. In a world obsessed with permanence, at its heart the story holds paradox, persistence, and the sacred art of starting again.

Buzzard Dances & Pokeberry Spells: Feathers, Folklore & Fugitive Fires

July 11, 2023

A reflection on the folk wisdom offered in The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl by Virginia Hamilton filled with beloved characters from African American folklore. How folklore and folk tradition bring a small community fugitives into deep relationship with the wild, and how enchantment and magic serve as a source of psychological resilience and practical survival in the face of unimaginable hardship.

Resilience in Bloom: When Beauty Refuses to Obey

June 24, 2023

Though some may see its delicate pink puffs of clustered flowers as a sign of fragility, the Smoke Tree is far from frail. Living between sidewalk cracks, in stone walls and quarries, and in the rocky foundations of houses, the smoke tree teaches us about resilience and transgression. The smoke tree is an elder who shows us how we, too, can resist and transgress what society tells us we cannot do.

Woodcutter & Tiger Brother

June 20, 2023

This Korean folktale about a woodcutter who discovers that a tiger is his long lost brother is a story about a relationship transformation: from one of hunter and prey, to one of intimacy and kinship characterized by interdependence, reciprocity and mutual respect. It is about recognizing and embracing the other within, the wild within the Self.

Sedna: Gift from the Salt Womb

June 8, 2023

Sedna is an Inuit folktale about how unimaginable pain can be transformed into our greatest gift to others. Though Sedna drowns at the hands of her father, she transforms from the role of victim, to the mighty goddess of the underworld who births all life. Complex, fallible and real like each one of us, Sedna is a deeply lovable character in a heartbreaking tale that offers up ancient wisdom that wakes us up, like the salty spray of an ocean wave.