If the Paper Wildlife Conservancy sounds like a charitable organization supporting ecological interests, that is by the design of artist and activist Cate Francis. Francis brought a portion of her Paper Wildlife Conservancy exhibit to the Humboldt and District Gallery. The opening reception, held on January 9, had patrons braving a bitterly cold evening to learn about the artist and her enchanting and thought-provoking prints. Francis confessed that the name of the project was made to sound like a corporation in order to engage audiences and provoke thought.

The Paper Wildlife Conservancy is, in fact, a large scale public art project that has seen Francis’s nature prints posted throughout her home city of Saskatoon. The prints along with interpretive material are wheat-pasted to public buildings with permission of the owners. Francis also works as a naturalist for Parks Canada, so the interplay of her print works and the natural world is logical.

The technique of screen printing is a type of printmaking involving a mechanical process of applying successive layers of colour to a medium, often paper or cloth, using fine mesh screens. The result has singular colours blending into a mosaic on a coloured backdrop. In the case of Cate Francis’s work, she pays particular attention to the natural world and its intersection with urban life. Whether it’s a blue heron parked conspicuously in a sea of plastic flamingoes or a frog perched on a plastic water bottle floating in a marsh, the work has a sharp sense of commentary along with a wry sense of humour.

Cate Francis has always been an artist and attentive to the world around her. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Saskatchewan and her Master’s degree from the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design. During her studies, Francis gravitated toward printmaking and has made it her main medium.

“I really like printmaking; I like the graphic nature of it. It’s also the fact that you can make multiples and get the art out to more people. I turned to screenprinting specifically because it was the only form of printmaking I could do immediately following graduation.”

The pieces are intricately drawn and each has its own unique properties and back story. Many of the paper prints are framed conventionally while others resemble prints on a slab of concrete owing to a process of applying repeated coatings of resin. 

As for the stories, they are each as unique as the prints.

“The print with the peregrine falcons acknowledges that Saskatchewan, mainly Saskatoon and Regina, had one of the major breeding programs that brought the peregrine falcon off the endangered species list.”

Other examples of the human and nature interaction include a shrewd commentary on a persistent songbird and a nod to Francis’s father feeding rabbits in an effort to save cherished perennials. Even the titles carry a weight of meaning.

The clever vibrancy of the prints makes the Paper Wildlife Conservancy a must-see. Francis has scheduled workshops throughout Friday, December 10 with Humboldt school classes at the Gallery. 

The show itself continues through to February 22.