Emily Donovan loves to travel, but her heart belongs to Minnesota. The state's North Woods and the cycle of the seasons are both influential and essential to her batik art, which relies on wax and handmade dyes made from foraged materials. Having grown up learning about specialized tools and craft methods from her father, who built custom etching and lithography presses, Donovan studied art history and visual art at the University of Minnesota with an emphasis in printmaking and painting. Her process of hand dyeing creates what she calls a "living mark," tracking the movement and infusion of her pigments into paper fibers and encapsulating her experiences and discoveries in the outdoors.