Situated along a high bluff overlooking the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers are a series of hand-made earthen mounds. The shapes could easily be mistaken for natural land forms, but they are the creation of long-ago residents of the region. Between 3,400 and 700 years ago Native Americans made the mounds to bury their dead under, perform religious rituals around, and celebrate births on.  At least these are some of the ideas that archaeologists have developed about why they were made.  Some mounds are just large bumps while others are the shape of animals, reptiles and birds, in relief.

As an artist exploring landscape as a medium of expression I feel a strong affinity towards these lost tribes of North America. I like to imagine the process of building the mounds and all the meaning they were imbued with. The act of reshaping the face of the earth creates a tangible connection to the greatest living being we know.