Lesson: Shaping Landscape into Land Art

One form of ancient art is the mound—made by people moving dirt or stones from one location to another, creating a giant sculpture on the landscape. Near Baraboo, Wisconsin, there is one such work of land art that resembles a large humanoid figure that has been given the modern name Man Mound. No one knows when he was molded onto the land. Hundreds or thousands of baskets of dirt were intentionally placed to form a figure 214 feet long, 48 feet wide, and about three feet high.

At some point in the late 1800s, a road was cut through Man Mound separating his legs from the rest of his body. His feet were later destroyed due to farming. Over a century later, his missing legs have been painted across Man Mound Road and his feet covered with agricultural plastic; temporary solutions to permanent disfigurement.

With her artwork Man Mound Footstool, Karen Ann Hoffman carefully put him back together, Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork on green velvet on top of a footstool. Karen Ann added strawberries to her design because, after years of neglect, among the first native plants to pop up as the landscape recovered were wild strawberries.