SILENT SHADOWS OF WHOOPING CRANES

The Fields Project - Silent Shadows of Whooping Cranes is a large-scale installation within the fallow, agricultural fields of the Rock River Valley. Here, the shadows of whooping cranes in migration flight will be cut into the farm field grasses, evoking the historic migration route of these magnificent and nearly extinct birds across the heartland of America. Each shadow will span close to two acres. A recording of the whooping crane flight call will be sounded at noon of each day. Their one-minute, eulogistic call will break the silence of their shadows. In nature, their call could be heard over a distance of two miles. The work will be visible along the flight paths of passing jets and small planes. Historically, the nearly extinct whooping crane migrated across the heartland of America. Now, the migration is all but a memory. The Fields Project is set within the Rock River Valley of Illinois. The wetlands and prairies were ideal stopover points for the whooping cranes as they migrated south to their coastal winter range. The species was nearly wiped out in the last century with habitat loss, agriculture, development pressures, and indiscriminate hunting. Today, a remnant population is being hand raised and nurtured to fly their way across the heartland of America once again. Art and science join hands with the local farm population of rural Illinois. The work is based on research and discussions with the International Crane Foundation, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, Operation Migration, the Nature Conservancy and residents of Oregon, Illinois. I will look at species loss, the prairie landscape and the issues of land use conflict using art to communicate a concern to all who fly, like the cranes once did, across the heartland of America.