Nova Scotia artist Cecil Day's work is the natural world and our mark on it. In Traps, her most recent series, she looks to the subject of hunting in developing a suite of etchings that illustrate, to scale, traditional traps—box traps, snares, leg irons—together with their related quarry.

Working in close dialogue with avid trappers, Day researched each item—how they work, their construction, their history—and the corresponding animal – lobster, eel, rat, bobcat, bear, rabbit.

Day's interest here lies not in trapping itself, whether in condoning or condemning the activity. Instead, she uses it as a vehicle by which to examine the evolving face of our connection to and understanding of nature. The traps serve as symbols of this relationship.

Cecil Day grew up in Portland, across the Gulf of Maine from her current residence in southwest Nova Scotia. She received a BA in painting at Indiana University (1960) and an MFA in painting from Washington University, St. Louis (1973). She immigrated to Canada in 1979.

Although trained as a painter, Day has become best known for her printmaking practice.

Photo: Cecil Day, Obsolete Bear Trap, detail, 2010, etching on Fabriano paper, 116.5 x 100.0 cm, collection of the artist