Karmena Ozola's piece reminds us that nature's majesty can teach us the value of companionship and connection.

Artist's Statement: "Artwork: Hand printed and hand colored linocut

Materials: unknown brand printmaking paper, Thai Mulberry paper, Flint Ink (water based printing ink), St. Petersburg extra fine artist's watercolors, found string

Currently I am an artist without a studio. This summer I spent three months living in a tent in the countryside. My family was far away and nature became my family instead. I observed guinea fowl walking around and picking their food. Gradually they got used to my presence and I could follow them closely. At night I talked to an owl sitting above my tent in a pine tree. There were caves of groundhogs near me. They ate literally everything that farmers grew in the garden. When I closed my eyes to sleep I heard coyotes howling a few fields away. When it rained I found tiny tree frogs sitting on the steps of an old barn. Another night I was sitting by my fire when a skunk with four babies came nearby. The mother stayed away from me but the little ones came very close. They were not scared of people yet. An on and on it went. I thought about the symbiosis between humans and animals and how we affect each other. I felt amazed by the harmony of everything in nature. There is so much we could learn from it.

This project began in New York but was finished in Latvia."