Spencer Museum of Art

20/21 | Collection | Conversation | Process

View full image of Stan Herd's Medicine Wheel

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Current:
Stan Herd / Haskell Indian Nations University / Earthwork Medicine Wheel

Presented in the current Process installation are visual and descriptive documents illustrating the collaborative effort between artist Stan Herd and leaders from Haskell Indian Nations University to design, create, and dedicate the Earthwork Medicine Wheel.

The challenge of the quincentennial year was not about the past but about our willingness to change the future. The creation of the Earthwork Medicine Wheel at Haskell is offered as a native gift to all peoples of this planet and a symbol of what peoples of the world must now learn. Dan Wildcat, Haskell Indian Nations, October 1992 (borrowed from Stan Herd website)

Utilizing stone from the original campus buildings the design created by Haskell instructor Leslie Evans (Laguna, Pottowattami) and students was installed under the direction of Stan Herd. The earthwork has become the site for ceremonial and other activities along with providing a place for quiet reflection for students and the community at large.

The earthwork is a combination of traditional symbols of aboriginal cultures indigenous to the America's. The circle was to symbolize a medicine wheel, a contemporary art piece with overtones of a sacred space. Leslie Evans, Haskell instructor, October 1992 (borrowed from Stan Herd website)