Anna has been a life long nature advocate and enthusiast, learning everything she can about the world around her. She has spent her life studying the flora and fauna of the Colorado Plateau and spends as much time as possible exploring the desert around her home and beyond. She strives to make her art as sustainable as possible to help preserve the natural world and works to restore, teach about, and advocate for the health of the environment. In 2018 Anna received the Utah Desert Naturalist certification through Utah State University’s Extension Program.
Part of the Naturalist ethos is to share knowledge and sustainability practices with others. Anna does this as part of her artistic practice by creating exhibits and visual resources. The Naturalist History Museum was a site specific installation she built in the sidewalk vitrine on Main Street in Price, UT. This natural history type diorama featured realistic sculpted animals on a desert terrain with interpretive information. The museum was free to view by any passerby and featured rotating exhibits of wildlife found within Colorado Plateau to teach about flora and fauna of the local region. She also created a visual aid, Natural Dyes from My Garden, to use when speaking about natural dyes to groups/classrooms. The aid shows actual dried plant material with dyed wool and fabric, each corresponding to lines in the weaving to demonstrate the saturation of color that can be obtained from plants.
