Click on the thumbnail for full images. Selected prints are available in my Etsy shop. Please contact me at [email protected] if you're interested in a commission or other prints.
Cornwall: Fish Factory Arts Residency and mentoring in John Howard's Print Studio, Penryn
Curlews Foraging in the Penryn River Estuary, Etchingt, 10X16", AP, Nancy Langston 2026
Curlews Foraging in the Penryn River Estuary, Linocut Reduction Print, 10X16", limited edition of 3, Nancy Langston 2026
During this residency in Cornwall, I am focused on Curlews, which I watch each day along the Penryn River estuary. Their long, down-curved bills and calls evoke estuaries, moors, and wild places. Their migrations link breeding, stopover feeding sites, and wintering grounds, reminding us that conservation must cross borders. But the degradation of estuaries and moorland breeding habitat--and the increase in nest predators-- threaten Eurasian Curlew populations.
My curlew linocuts explore themes of movement, place, and vulnerability. Through carving and printing, I seek to capture something of the curlew’s character while inviting viewers to consider the landscapes on which these birds depend, reminding us what can be lost when we fail to pay attention.
My curlew linocuts explore themes of movement, place, and vulnerability. Through carving and printing, I seek to capture something of the curlew’s character while inviting viewers to consider the landscapes on which these birds depend, reminding us what can be lost when we fail to pay attention.
Jackdaw and Curlew Foraging in the Sea Wrack, multiblock linocut print 10"x16", limited edition of 20, Nancy Langston 2026
Curlew on the Moor, 10X16", limited edition of 3, Linocut Reduction Print, Nancy Langston 2026
Their stories also carry a warning. The Eskimo Curlew were once the most abundant shorebird in North America. They bred in the high Arctic of what is now the Northwest Territories in Canada, and they wintered in the grasslands of Patagonia--flying over 14,000 km each way. An Inuk elder recounted "when the pi-pi-piuk returned from whatever distant and unknown world had claimed it during the long winter months: ‘They came suddenly, and fell upon us like a heavy snow. In my father’s time it was told they were so many on the tundra it was like clouds of mosquitoes rising in front of a walking man. Their nests and eggs were in every tussock of grass. At the end of the hatching moon there were so many of their young scurrying about it was as if them moss itself was moving. Truly, there were many! But when I was still a child, they were few. And one spring, they did not come.’”Mowat, Farley. Sea of Slaughter, 2004. 42; cited in Maya Lin's "What is Missing" project.
And now Eskimo Curlew are extinct--a loss as profound as that of the Passenger Pigeon. Commercial hunters on the North American Great Plains were largely responsible, for when one Curlew was shot, dozens of its flock mates circled around, making them easy targets for slaughter. But habitat loss, industrial agricultural, fire suppression and pesticides that drove their main locust prey to extinction all played roles as well. What can we learn from their devastating loss to help us prevent this sad tale from happening over and over again in the future?
And now Eskimo Curlew are extinct--a loss as profound as that of the Passenger Pigeon. Commercial hunters on the North American Great Plains were largely responsible, for when one Curlew was shot, dozens of its flock mates circled around, making them easy targets for slaughter. But habitat loss, industrial agricultural, fire suppression and pesticides that drove their main locust prey to extinction all played roles as well. What can we learn from their devastating loss to help us prevent this sad tale from happening over and over again in the future?
Recent Works: Spring and Summer 2026 (More Birds of the Keweenaw)
Sentinels of Change: Prints of a Changing North
Arctic Prints (for Reindeer: A Tale of Nature and Survival in a Changing North, Yale University Press, 2026)
Birds of the Keweenaw
Lake Superior (plus Blueberry, my beloved dog)
Night Series: Linocuts (click on images for larger image)
Chiricahua Series: I spent the month of October 2025 as Guest Artist in Residence with CRANE in the Chiricahua Mountains. Such an amazing place--and very different than Lake Superior.
