Red Wolf- One year update on Conservation Efforts!

It's officially been a year since I debuted my large block print ever-- the American Red Wolf at Alligator River. To date, we've raised $4,161 for red wolf conservation. 

In September of 2024, I set out to raise money and awareness for Red Wolf Conservation, by creating a massive, 2ft x3 ft linocut depicting an American Red Wolf in the only place they still live in the wild-- on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, in Eastern NC.  On the day I finished this piece, there were only 17 Red Wolves remaining in the wild-- so I decided to make only 17 prints per edition from this carving.   

above: here's me with the 1st print of the 1st edition, which I framed and donated to the Museum of Life and Science development team. 

With all of my limited edition pieces, I always sell fewer than 100 imprints from each carving. For this carving, I decided to make 5 editions of 17 prints.  (5 wolves had been killed by vehicles in the previous year, and that's where this number came from.)  My plan was that-- for each new edition I carved, I would attempt increasingly difficult inkwork techniques, as I got used to printmaking at such a large scale. 20% of the sales from each piece would be donated to Red Wolf Conservation-- part going to breeding programs to preserve their genetics, and part going to wildlife corridors to promote safe road crossings for wild wolves. 

Here's the newest of these editions: 

This newest edition -- "Red Wolf at Alligator River, Full Color" is the trickiest inkwork I've ever attempted in a piece.  After this, there is only one more colorway left before the block is retired. 

For context, here's a comparison of the 4 editions I've done so far, and how the inkwork has become more advanced each time: