This set of five artist books explores concepts of invasiveness, impermanence, and the unseen in relation to the Great Lakes. The books are not part of an edition, but instead each lake has a designated book with lake specific content. The overall dimensions depend on the choice of display, but the tallest book stands at seven inches. The handmade boxes are sized to approximately represent the surface area and depth of a particular lake. The cover of each book and the inside of the lid showcases the artist’s manière noire lithograph which details beach gatherings. 

Upon opening any one of the five books, the reader will encounter the burnt sienna caps of vintage test tubes. The true content of the test tubes are concealed until the reader selects a tube to extract and read. The tubes contain anything from plastic nurdles to a dried invasive round eyed goby fish. No two readers experience these books in the same way, but a narrative can be pieced together from the contents of the tubes. Each book tells a distinct story since the beaches of each lake hold unique secrets. 

Over the course of a year, the artist visited each Great Lake and spent time collecting various specimens along the shorelines. These specimens were organized, cataloged, and labeled before being sorted into individual test tubes and housed in the handmade box. The found material ranges from colorful plastic and barbie accessories to quagga mussels and crinoid fossils. The tubes are not tagged literally, but instead the labels use idioms, puns, poetry, and humor to infer knowledge about the contents. This artist book set hints to the current problems of climate change, invasive species, and pollution impacting the Great Lakes.