“The memories of inhabitants like me braid with a place’s biome and climate, history, names, and geolocation to contribute to the site’s spirit. Rhode Island Herbarium, a blossom of a piece, reads like a distillation of all those things…when May’s Moonstone Beach rang like a deep bell in my bones, all the conceptual frameworks I’d been constructing fell away. Eventually the constant flux of the river of inner and outdoor swallows them.”

“The artist uses farm fencing coated with a colorful, flax-based paper pulp, to create protective structures encircling 11 young chestnut trees specially planted, with the American Chestnut Foundation, for her exhibit....Babcock’s work is both hopeful and dire, rescuing survivors of one species but realizing their fragile home may be inundated by the ocean.”

“In appearance, these anthotypes and plantistypes could be distant kin to Color Field paintings: delicate, beguiling, slightly otherworldly. That otherworldliness is paradoxical, though, since the materials employed in their making make them more naturally of this world than any “regular” photograph...They also achieve something else, something far rarer: documentation that doubles as emanation.”

“Local maker May Babcock is renowned for her skills as an artist whose work is intertwined with the craft of fine papermaking. She has created a name for herself as one of the leading paper artists today...an artist and craftsperson with enviable skills at transforming natural materials into works of art. Laborious to create, they offer subtle color sensibilities and a keen sensitivity to the environment that produced them.”

“Artistically Babcock is compelled by paper’s ability to carry context and content through the very materials that form it. This time-tested technology encourages people to slow down and use holistic techniques to transform materials usually deemed waste or scraps into new, positive work.”

“Displayed in the voluminous hall on the lower level of the Rhode Island State House, the artwork serves as a sort of root system, elucidating the complex relationships between our daily operations and our environment. The space features niches which lend themselves elegantly to sculptural installations...and its main wide wall serves as an evocative ground for Babcock and Singleton’s monumental map.”

““In our runaway consumptive culture, her approach is a crucial model. What fibers she uses for hand papermaking exemplify a sense of responsibility towards the land. We can all take instruction and inspiration from May Babcock’s humane collaborative approach.””