Rockpeople of Chester Creek

I began building inuksuit along the shores of Lake Superior and in Chester Creek near my home in Duluth, Minnesota in 1999. As each sculpture took shape, I realized that they are powerful art forms as well as competent teachers of balance and control. I noticed that the integrity of the structure is often dependent on the "broken shards" which provide stability to the completed form.

The rocks spoke to me. What a compelling metaphor for life and the human soul's journey! They shape-shifted the universal experience of one's own "broken places" into something that has purpose and meaning.

One of my "broken places" is Treblinka, Poland—the extermination camp where 800,000 Jews, including my grandmother and perhaps my grandfather—were murdered. I visited there in the fall of 2000 with my father, a Holocaust survivor, and was moved to tears by the sight of an expansive field overflowing with upright stones and rocks. The connection of the rocks to my Jewish roots with my father by my side brought me "home" for the first time.

I hope my Rockpeople of Chester Creek will serve as an invitation for you to turn inward and be open to what the rocks may have to say to the deeper aspects of who you are.