Cadmium Feature —
Natalie Ley
(Snake Bite Creations)

Cadmium Perspective

Why This Work, Why Now

Natalie Ley’s work offers a tactile counterpoint to an increasingly digital visual world. Working through Snake Bite Creations, she creates hand-carved lino prints that centre patience, touch, and physical presence. Her recent focus on Alberta birds draws attention to familiar species encountered in both city and countryside, inviting viewers to slow down and notice character, gesture, and rhythm in the natural world around them.

At a moment when speed and replication dominate visual culture, Ley’s work reconnects viewers with the satisfaction of something made carefully, line by line, by hand.

How to Look at the Work

These prints are built through a deeply physical process. Ley carves, inks, and burnishes each block by hand — sometimes pressing the paper with her own thumb. Birds and natural forms are revisited for what sustained attention can reveal: the tilt of a head, the tension of a wing, the distinct personality held within a single silhouette.

Variation emerges through mark-making, pressure, and texture rather than perfection. The work rewards close viewing, where carved lines, ink density, and subtle irregularities speak to the labour behind each print.

Where It Lives Best

Ley’s prints work well in lived-in spaces — places where daily encounters allow the surface and imagery to be appreciated over time. Their graphic clarity holds from a distance, while texture and detail invite closer inspection. These works are well suited to long-term collections, particularly for those who value material honesty and the quiet presence of hand-made objects.