Betsy Bowen has been creating woodcuts since 1970, when she made her first print.

She is an author and illustrator of many books for children and adults. She lives on her family homestead near Grand Marais,MINNNEEESOTA

Far beyond my northern Minnesota backyard, full of trees, lies Battin Island, which is made of stone. No trees. But something both places do have in common is printmaking.

I use wood, they use stone.

But how do they do it I wondered?

So in the mid-nineties I traveled there. I saw the careful Inuit print artists slowly scratch away the surface of the stone with

frequently sharpened chisels, unti the bird shape is left as the raised shape. They roll ink on it as I do, lay the paper down, and rub on the back with a spoon. Peel off the print and hang it up. Repeat.

Raven, Stonecut & Stencil, l

But here's the part that startled me: after all fifty prints are finished, one of the printers takes a wide rasp and scrapes the stone entirely smooth. The stone bird is gone.

Birds continue to be favorite creatures of mine, winter birds at the feeder, summer birds arriving in the spring and singing at dawn, just as it begins to be mild enough to sleep with the windows open. I hope there will always be birds.