This drawing project aimed to depict every species in North America identified as endangered by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. This series was started based on information published by the USFWS in 2010. To ensure the accuracy of these representations, I consulted with biologists, research assistants, professors, and collection managers from universities and organizations including the University of Tennessee, Yale University, the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 

This work has been shown in galleries and museums in the Philadelphia area including the Woodmere Art Museum, the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia City Hall, and 3rd Street Gallery. The series included portraits of endangered birds, mammals, amphibians, insects, and others. A selection of these drawings—including the complete series of rare and endangered clams and mussels—are shown below. All drawings were created on vellum-surfaced paper in hatched pen and ink. This work informed the first steps of my RARE AIR project.

RARE AND ENDANGERED CLAMS AND MUSSELS

This series of drawings of clams and mussesls was created in 2013. At the time of their creation, these drawings represented every North American clam and mussel species that was recognized as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Eight of these species were declared extinct by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2023.