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Jonathan Frederick Walz, Ph.D.—The artist has chosen the cairn as the organizing principle of her latest endeavors in the studio. Though the English term, meaning an intentional pile of stones that serves as a topographic or mnemonic marker, derives from Scottish Gaelic, the phenomenon itself appears worldwide, from mountaintops to riverbanks to wastelands. These accumulations may be loosely or highly organized (think: Jenga in the landscape, constructed out of rocks) but all arise (literally) from a local community’s needs and a local community’s efforts. These piles are not static: they accrete through time. Though frequently ancient in origin, they readily accept contributions from modern passersby. Fashioned from various and multiple indigenous lithic components, these mounds might be regarded as stand-ins for the complex groups that built them. Read more…