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These prints represent a visual narrative or storytale about our relationship to the river environment and our responsibility to protect it while we use and enjoy it. They symbolically present practical and philosophical experience of how we might act when we recreate in the native home of wild fish. Originally commissioned as part of a federal wild river pilot project for the Wind River Ranger District in Washington State, these images were intended to help streamside visitors appreciate the life cycle of the fish by being good stewards of the river.

I consider three issues to be important in the development of my artwork. The first is my awareness as a child that I wanted to be an artist. Everything that I have done in the past forty years stems from that optimistic vision of my place in the world. I continue to hold that childhood desire: it nourishes me every day I work. The second is that I believe in the value and the power of art to move us towards a better existence. I want my work to be meaningful to other people. This has guided me for nearly two decades to visually describe the character of who we are and the place that we live. The third is that I have an abundant need to create with my hands. My curiosity about process, craft, and the appearance of materials has led me to explore a variety of disciplines, each suggesting new possibilities for the others. My future plan is to continue to work on all three of these issues in order to further my development as an artist.

Artist: Dennis Cunningham

Medium: Linocut

Dimensions: 46″ × 22″

Location: 5 floor, #114 on the map

Series: The Wind River Prints