The Daily Frog Project

Lynnhurst resident Bradley Scott Davis has made a painting of a frog every day for over 1,600 consecutive days. Through his Daily Frog Project, Davis explores an important and, as yet, unanswered question. Frogs are vanishing around the world; what does that mean for human beings?

There are only 100 or so species of frogs and toads native to North America. Some species are vulnerable and at risk, due to their extremely limited range of habitat. Part of Davis’s message is that we can’t take their presence for granted. “This is really woven into what I do in the studio – I want to magnify the point where nature and art intersect,” saaid Davis. “We need to be paying much more careful attention to what frogs and other creatures in the natural world are trying to tell us.”

To that point, Davis’s recent show at the California Building in northeast Minneapolis showcased 1,400 frog paintings on canvas and more than 600 works on paper. Some of the canvasses were installed on the floor – as a reminder to walk more mindfully through life. This colorful, immersive show was a direct response to the darkness that is our current reality of habitat destruction and deforestation.

Daily practice
Surrounded by tubes of acrylic paint and dozens of brushes in his home studio, Davis said, “Part of my process is borne out of an artist’s need to be in the studio daily. I make sure that I have three canvases, pieces of paper, or cardboard ready to paint each morning. The format of my paintings is always a square; my favorite size is 8” x 8. I paint a daily frog as a meditation and reminder for myself, and to raise awareness of threats to the natural world.”

Davis’s practice of dailiness began in 2020, when he was isolating with his young son in their Minneapolis apartment. He said, “The COVID-19 pandemic had already altered the world. I needed a daily painting discipline, and started on a series of 24 frogs. Since we couldn’t go out, I painted from photographs in one of my favorite books called, ‘300 Frogs’. I worked through the book sequentially. The first two dozen frogs kept me going for almost a month, and spurred the idea of painting 300 frogs. When I finished my 300th frog painting, I knew I was just getting started.”

Many places, many paintings
Davis was raised west of St. Louis, near the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers. This is an area characterized by oak, redbud, dogwood and wild sassafras trees, wetlands, and cricket frogs.

He went on to attend Harvard College, where he studied with biologist Edward O. Wilson (two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Medal of Science). Davis said, “Dr. Wilson warned that frogs are one of the environmental canaries in the coal mine. What happens to frogs will eventually happen to humankind.”

Life, love, and travels would carry Davis from Boston to New York City, New Zealand, and finally to art school in England, where he would formally address his lifelong interest in painting – in seeing.

In praise of solitude
After art school came a stint of living near Chequamegon National Forest in northern Wisconsin, where Davis had access to a studio on a lake. He said, “I became aware of the shoreline grab going on in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The lake house culture gobbles up so much shoreline. The land we were on bordered the national forest. There were only a couple of other permanent residents on the lake. It was a wild place filled with frogs, bear, porcupines, owls, eagles, otters, fox, muskrats, coyotes, and wolves.”

The years of painting in solitude helped define Davis’s artistic vision: to use his art to help himself and others be better stewards of the natural world.

Pay attention
One of Davis’s primary messages is expressed in two simple words: pay attention. He believes that human health reflects the health of the natural world. He suggests that we pay attention to what we eat and drink; pay attention to the choices we make as consumers; pay attention to what animal-based agricultural is doing to our water quality and the health of our land. For immediate impact, Davis suggests that people consider adopting a plant-based diet.

He said, “For Minnesotans, another call to action is to seriously re-think our use of herbicides and pesticides. If you own shoreline, practice shoreline restoration. Consider, in a curious way, what amphibians might love – then help make your shared habitat more hospitable. The frogs themselves are so quiet. It’s a very old ecosystem, where soil meets sand at water’s edge. Work to improve and preserve it.”

To see or purchase Davis’s work, visit www.thedailyfrog.com; 10% of profits go to Third Millennium Alliance, a non-profit working to protect and restore the Pacific Rain Forest of Ecuador. Follow along on instagram @artbybsd to keep up with Davis’s stories and environmental tips.