Stephen Huneck is an internationally acclaimed painter and sculptor, whose work often incorporates animals. His work has been widely exhibited and is included in important museum collections, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of American Folk Art. As he explains in his Introduction, Huneck began the series of woodcuts after suffering a near-death experience in which the very desire to make the prints, as well as the life-affirming messages they convey, figured profoundly in his recovery. He lives in Woodstock, Vermont.