Art Projects

Prairie Cairn, the first component of Andy Goldsworthy: Three Cairns to be built, was created in early spring 2001 at Grinnell College’s Conard Environmental Research Area near Kellogg, Iowa. Prairie Cairn was completed before the prairie grass had begun to grow and was photographed over a period of 18 months to document the sculpture in varied weather conditions. The result is a suite of large-scale panoramic images—now in the collection of the Des Moines Art Center—showing the cairn with varying heights of grass, in snow, and amid flames as the prairie was subjected to a controlled maintenance burn. Although considered a temporary work, Prairie Cairn should last for decades before eventually succumbing to the effects of the weather.

Prairie Cairn is one of three temporary cairns in the project—the other two are on the East Coast and the West Coast. The two coastal temporary cairns were created in tidal zones near New Rochelle, New York, and Pigeon Point, California. Made at low tide, they were then photographed by Goldsworthy as the incoming waters destroyed the stone structures.