I played a lot of arcade games as a kid, but these were the real kind—the ones you could only find at an actual arcade. My friends and I had to leave the house, jump on our bikes, and ride a few miles with pockets full of quarters we had saved up, only to blow through them in what seemed like a few minutes. There was no continuous play or starting over for free. It was quarter after quarter until you ran out of money.
We all had our favorites, and one of mine was definitely Space Invaders. I loved the stress of watching those alien creatures creep closer and closer while continuously firing at your only defensive cannon. Years later, I used that same idea to create Crab Invaders—my Chesapeake Bay version of the classic arcade game and a creative way to tell a much bigger story about the Maryland Blue Crab.
Instead of alien invaders, the artwork follows the Blue Crab through its natural life cycle, illustrated as pixelated graphics from the mature crab at the top down to one of its earliest stages, the Zoea. Below them, watermen and their crabbing boats take refuge behind fading bushel baskets as the crabs fire back. The rising scores can represent daily catches and annual harvests, but they can also suggest declining crab populations and the continuing challenges facing the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Blue Crab has always been part of a much larger struggle for survival in the Bay—caught between commercial and recreational harvest, natural predators, invasive species, habitat loss, water quality, and the pressures of a changing ecosystem. Crab Invaders takes a fun piece of my childhood and turns it into a story about one of Maryland’s most recognizable species and the ongoing effort to protect the Chesapeake Bay.
Who wins? Only time—and our continued restoration and conservation efforts—will tell.
FRAMING AND STRETCHING OPTIONS:
Most paper print sizes will fit in standard store-bought frames unless they are a unique size(such as limited editions). Smaller prints ship flat while larger prints and canvases are shipped in a tube for safe delivery. Contact your local framer to stretch and mount your purchased canvas. Canvases are printed with an extra 2 inches on all 4 sides to allow for a “gallery wrap” style for a frameless presentation. Sizes not listed are unavailable for this art. Artwork sold here will be hand signed by the artist.
*36x54 inch stretched canvas gallery wraps are for
local Annapolis pickup only
*48x72 inch stretched canvas gallery wraps are for
local Annapolis pickup only
