Raised by the Shark

60” x 30” 1-color woodcut print with blind embossing (64"x35"framed)

Artist Statement:
A tribute to my birthplace, Shark River Road in Farmingdale, NJ, "Raised by the Shark" uses the silhouette of a great white shark to frame the places and things I remember about growing up near the Jersey Shore. My street was bordered by the county dump to the north, the Naval weapons depot to the west, Collingwood Auction & Flea Market to the South and the Garden State Parkway to the east. I included imagery that was inspired by the original people of this coastal community, the Lenape, and their stories about the land and the animals in the region.

The "ghost area" around the shark includes some of the dark historical events from the area. These are the things that constantly haunt and lurk in the periphery, shaping not only the history but the future of that part of NJ: war, greed, colonialism, genocide, racism, ocean warming, pollution, eminent domain, poverty, overfishing, and building structures as if Mother Nature can’t wipe them all away in the blink of an eye.

I've created multiple variations of the print where the ghost area is blind embossed, printed black, or printed in a shade of gray.

“Raised by the Shark” is a sister piece to mt 2025 print "Rhapsody in Gray" about gray whales off the coast of Oregon. This piece works as a standalone print and can also be paired in a display with "Rhapsody in Gray" ( https://dutch318.wixsite.com/keith-van-norman/portfolio-collections/my-portfolio/rhapsody-in-gray ).

- Selected for the Juried 2025 "Undercurrent" show at Gallery 114 (Portland, OR)