Frog and Toad Portfolio

Artist's Statement

Growing up in the hills of rural Western New York, encounters with Eastern newts, giant American toads, and ponds full of life made an indelible impression on me. Once, I remember stumbling upon a mother snapping turtle laying her eggs at the edge of the forest. In these encounters, time melted away, and the barriers between me and the world of wild, living things seemed to also melt away.

Many years later, when I moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to take a job teaching digital media at Eastern Mennonite University, photography provided me with a way of understanding my new place. We moved into a 19th Century farmhouse across from the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. I spent weekends and evenings exploring a new riverine landscape. Here, I encountered both old friends like the Common Snapping Turtle and new acquaintances such as Wood Turtles. We built a small pond as a home for Green Frogs and found Red-backed salamanders curled beneath cover objects in our garden.

This particular selection of images was used as part of a set design for EMU’s recent theatrical production of Frog and Toad. My hope is that young people encountering these images will be inspired to have their own encounters with the fascinating denizens of their own back yards.