You Are Invited!

You are cordially invited to be a part of Welcome Spruce Grouse!

Here’s the highlights:

There have been a series of events for folks to learn about the endangered spruce grouse and efforts to save them in the Adirondacks (Including scientists going to Canada to catch them and release them in the ADKs!)

If you missed these events you can still download an informational PDF and check out some online resources linked in the text below to learn and create something inspired by the spruce grouse.

Chosen works were curated and displayed during an exhibit at the Potsdam Public Library for everyone to see what was made about the spruce grouse.

Wait, what is all this about? What even is a spruce grouse?

I’ll back up, here’s the longer version.

For the past few years, I have been working to bring art and science together through the art I create and programming I offer. Most recently this has looked like organizing creative gatherings at the SUNY Potsdam greenhouses and stitching animal bones onto fabric. As the categories of my work have become less clear I’ve started to seek new ways to fund what I do.

Which brings us to my recent project, Welcome Spruce Grouse.

Welcome Spruce Grouse is a creative project centered around an endangered species of grouse that is struggling to maintain its population in the Adirondack region of New York State. I first learned about it when I was setting up a creative gathering at SUNY Potsdam’s Biology Department. While looking over the WISER Center’s taxidermied specimen collection biology Professor Dr. Glenn Johnson told me about his work traveling to remote regions of Ontario with NYS DEC biologist Dr. Angelena Ross to trap spruce grouse that are then released in the Adirondacks. I was fascinated by this species translocation and how it was taking place right near where I frequently hike.

Around the same time, I learned about an organization called Creature Conserve an organization devoted to bringing, “artists, writers, and scientists together from around the world - both in person and online - to foster informed, sustained support for animal conservation.” I knew it was a perfect fit so I wrote a scholarship application and now here we are!

Over the course of 2023 I partnered with SUNY Potsdam’s biology department and the Potsdam Public Library to deliver creative programming for folks to learn about and create work inspired by what they learn. We had pictures and even a taxidermied specimen to draw from but other media such as poetry and knitting happened.

Please join me in welcoming these small well-traveled birds to the Adirondacks and raising awareness around how humans can be a part of restoring our ecosystem.