Kristen Setala

Downy Woodpecker (2025)

Graphite on Bamboo/Cotton Paper. 3.1” x 4.1”

I miss the stands of young birch I would snake through on snowshoes back home in northwestern Ontario. Through the crisp winter air I would often here the gentle knocking of a small Downy Woodpecker. Scanning the bare trunks, it wouldn’t take long to spot these bold little birds.

These days through the streets and parks of Montreal I’m sometimes treated by the familiar knocking, although now through the ringing of church bells or whistling of bicycle tires. Seeing these birds in the city remind me of home, and that even in the city there are trees fit for cavities teeming with the tiniest insects to feed thesesmall, stiff-tailed friends.