Casper Bluff is an Illinois Nature Preserve stewarded by Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation.

Please join us for the public opening of artworks at Casper Bluff Land & Water Reserve, near Galena, Illinois.

Sunday, Oct 18, 3–5 pm

Casper Bluff

Free and open to the public. Please come.

Directions

From downtown Galena:

Follow South Main Street along the Galena River. 

Turn left to follow Highway 20. 

Take the fourth right on 4th Street, then the first left (at the fork) onto N. Blackjack Road. 

After 2 miles, take the right fork onto N. Pilot Knob Road, following the sign for Casper Bluff Reserve. 

Casper Bluff is about 2.5 miles down Pilot Knob Road, on the right.

Collaborators & partners

Ho-Chunk Nation Cultural Resources Department (Bill Quackenbush, Zoe VandeBerg)
Iowa Tribe of Kansas & Nebraska THPO (Randy Teboe)
Meskwaki Nation THPO (Tieranny Keahna)
Otoe-Missouria Tribe THPO (Elsie Whitehorn, Kelene Deer, Naomi Roubedeaux-Quiroga)
Prairie Island Indian Community THPO (Franky Jackson, Noah White, Jordan Buck, Meya Callstrom, Rylee Hince)
Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation (Nathan Aaberg, Steve Barg, Hillary Holt, Jillian Jablonski, Jean Matthiessen)

Cedar artwork panels: Chloris Lowe III
Cartographic artwork panels: Margaret Pearce
Cedar structures: Bill Quackenbush
Helical piles: Brian Kelly (Techno Metal Post of South West Wisconsin)
Maxmetal print: Dolan Printing
Speech icon design: Otoe-Missouria Tribe, Ho-Chunk Nation, Meskwaki Nation, Cole Redhorse Taylor (Prairie Island Indian Community), Sydney Pursel (Iowa Tribe of Kansas & Nebraska)
Interviewers: Meya Callstrom, Jessie Conaway, Zoe VandeBerg, Margaret Pearce, Rebekka Schlichting
Transcribers: Meya Callstrom, Rebekka Schlichting, Margaret Pearce
Language support & review: Arthur Lockwood, Wayne Pushetonequa
Advisory Council: Sydney Pursel (Iowa Tribe of Kansas & Nebraska), Randall Blackdeer II (Ho-Chunk Nation), Jordan Buck (Prairie Island Indian Community)
Website: Rubina Martini (Iowa Tribe of Kansas & Nebraska)
Project manager: Joe Bardusk

Words by

Barbara Blackdeer-Mackenzie
Kelene Deer
Lance Foster
Barry Hand
Reuben Ironhorse-Kent
Tieranny Keahna
Tracy Littlejohn
Shelby Merry
Sydney Pursel
Bill Quackenbush
Brett Ramey
Robert Reider
Janice Rice
Jim Rock
Naomi Roubedeaux-Quiroga
Rebekka Schlichting
Randy Teboe
Zachary Towey
Joshua VandeBerg
Elsie Whitehorn
Kachina Yeager

With gratitude to our funders & supporters

Minnesota State Arts Board (2024, 2025) 
Small Communities & Rural Placemaking Grant (Blandin Foundation) (2024)
John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (2025)
Anonymous Was a Woman Environmental Art Grant (2025)
Creative Capital (2026)
Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund
Corporation of Yaddo
American Philosophical Society
Art Omi

Migwėtth mine, pidamayaye, pįįnagigi, we would also like to thank

Maureen Bardusk
Jen Bervin
Greg Blackdeer
Andrea Bohn
Andy Brown
John Cloud
Paul Culligan
Caroline Desbiens
Steve Dietz
Dolan Printing
Henning Garvin
Walker Good
Anamaria Gorius
Roxanne Gould
Lenny Hosey
Brian Ickes
Ideal Printing
Jenny Marie Johnson
Brian Kelly
Jeff Kruchten
Ryan Mattke
Dana Peterson
Colleen Randolph
Jonathan Remo
Marty Reuss
Red Wing Public Library
Rockland Public Library
Amy Rosebrough
Ron Schirmer
James Spartz
Caroline Wigginton
Chief Clayton Winneshiek
Kelly Wisecup
Miranda Yancey
Ginni Yarbrough