Bio
Raised among the seaweed and rocky shores of Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound, Briony Morrow-Cribbs was eventually drawn to the magic of New England, settling in southern Vermont in 2014.

She earned her MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2012, where she also taught etching until 2014. After several years teaching at the college and high school levels, Briony left institutional education in 2018 to focus fully on her art. She relocated her etching press to a converted sheep barn and revived Twin Vixen Press—originally co-founded in 2008 with fellow artist Helen O’Donnell. Today, she works as an illustrator, graphic designer, and printmaker.

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo shows at Davidson Gallery (Seattle, WA), Artisan Gallery (Paoli, WI), Brumfield Gallery (Cannon Beach, OR), and Tory Folliard Gallery (Milwaukee, WI).

Briony’s illustration career began with two New York Times bestsellers: Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs, both written by Amy Stewart. Her work has since appeared in Unnatural Creatures (edited by Neil Gaiman and Maria Dahvana Headley), The Anarchist’s Design Book (Lost Art Press), and National Geographic’s Gory Details and Go to Hell.

She lives in Dummerston, Vermont, with her husband and their four-year-old daughter.

Artist Statement
I’ve always felt slightly baffled by being human—as if I arrived here a form too early and should have had at least one more life as a gopher, a wren, or maybe a fox. Through my work, I use animal forms to slip into other shapes, follow different instincts, and see the world from a wilder perspective. These images—sometimes real, sometimes imagined—let me explore facets of myself that don’t easily fit within the human experience.

My creatures offer a space to remember what it feels like to move through the world with certainty and grit. In turn, my work invites viewers to momentarily shed the weight of being human and step into a world where humanness isn’t the default.

I’ve been an etcher for over 30 years, first learning the process from my father in our family’s print studio. Etching has become a ritual: polishing copper plates, dipping them in acid, tuning inks and paper, and adjusting press settings. There’s solace in that rhythm—and it’s within that quiet labor that my menagerie begins to emerge.

The Next Stage Gallery is open during events, and by appointment with the artist or by contacting Next Stage at info@nextstagearts.org or (802) 387-0102.