David Sprecher, Roaming Stone
Belwin Conservancy
Park at 15551 Division Street, Afton, MN 55001
Cross Division Street to enter the trails and access the installation

Roaming Stone will be a spherical seal, a fingerprint, a memory of the prairie in the late spring of 2022. The inscription of the land that it holds can be recalled by rolling it, the way sound can be recalled by turning a record. The inverted tracks will bring to mind all the ways the bison maintain the health of the prairie ecosystem through their erratic roaming, their grazing and wallowing. Wrapping the impression of the land around a sphere, an object that rolls freely in any direction, reflects how the bison pick up and deposit microbes and seeds as they roam. In its ability to infinitely reproduce its impression of the soil, Roaming Stone becomes a piece of DNA that honors the persistent regeneration of life imprinting itself on the land.

David Sprecher is an artist and educator living in Chicago. He received a BFA in printmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006 and an MFA from the Art Theory and Practice program at Northwestern University in 2016. He teaches sculpture at the Chicago Academy of the Arts and integrates art education into primary schools through the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education. In 2020 he co-founded the design collective Essay. His work has been exhibited internationally.

Roaming Stone will be installed on a tallgrass prairie situated between two of Belwin Conservancy’s most frequently visited sites: Lucy Winton Bell Athletic Fields, which host thousands of athletes each year, and Belwin’s Bison Prairie, seasonal home to a herd of bison. Visitors are welcome to traverse the prairie trails around the installation and cross the road to visit the herd that inspired it!