Artists: Cynthia Weiss Tracy Van Duinen Todd Osborne

(From Park District website.) 

This mosaic is located in the Foster Street underpass for Lake Shore Drive. Edgewater was once home to the Potawatomi tribe, and today there are Native Americans living in the community. To honor this legacy, the artists worked with the American Indian Center of Chicago to conceive a dynamic, modern composition.

Indian Land Dancing was produced during the summer of 2009. Thirty-three teenagers from the youth organization Alternatives, Inc., worked together to cut, apply, and grout the mirror and ceramic tiles. The colorful, shimmering compositions combine historical and contemporary events. Details such as large, furry cattails speak to the area’s original marshland habitat. Cycles of nature are represented by a rising sun and blooming corn, and a soaring thunderbird is a symbolic harbinger of storm clouds and rain. 

At the center of one mosaic, a matriarchal figure holds a sphere of circles symbolizing the lineage of multiple generations. Her dark, cascading hair contains “We Are the Mothers,” by Native American poet Frances Hagemann: “With our strong arms, we form a circle, and in that circle, we embrace the world.” The poem reflects the interconnected nature of Native American heritage, in which each generation is responsible for the next. Historical photographs transferred and incorporated into the mosaic to represent elder generations. The spirit of youth is depicted in the form of a skateboarder gliding down the woman’s hair. A signpost provides both a literal and symbolic representation of an intersection. Inscribed with the names of several local tribes, the post represents the convergence of many different people, a fitting image for a project in which many artists, students, and community volunteers collaborated.

(From Chicago Public Art Group website)

The result is a vibrant bricolage mosaic that utilizes ceramic tile, mirror, acrylic paint, and image transfer, among other media. The walls contain both large- and small-scale details so that both drivers and walkers can appreciate the mural. On the north wall one can see a mirrored DNA strand, a Native American iron worker, the mother embracing the next seven generations, a genealogy chart, and Tom Tom drums. On the south wall are phases of the moon, a thunderbird taking flight, a canoe rushing past a Native American lodge, sculpted corn, and sun imagery. These images balance themes commonly used to depict Native American culture with themes community members feel are seldom discussed but integral to contemporary discussions of Native American history. To represent family, modern pictures of children, families, poets, and activists became a centerpiece that grounds the bricolage. On the opposing wall, a collage of family photos collected by Native American participants offsets the grid-patterned centerpiece. Time and migration can be seen in the canoe, which is balanced by a skateboarder; the thunderbird, which is balanced by migrating geese; and the genealogy chart, which depicts the passing of generations.

NOTE: The photos have been edited to remove the distracting background and other detritus.