By David Markham

Native American artists Leah Yellowbird and Aaron Squadroni of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, are currently fabricating a new artwork to be installed this summer in Heritage Park to commemorate the Potawatomi Trail of Death.

Their concept for the statue, called “Fire Keepers Circle,” was selected in 2024 from among proposals submitted by 11 native artists with a tribal affiliation, and they were awarded this project by a Johnson County Park and Recreation District art selection committee.

“The art selection committee was struck by both the warmth and sense of community that the sculpture conveyed,” said Committee Member and Superintendent of Culture Susan Mong. “They were also moved by the detail and specificity of how the piece honored the Potawatomi people.”

“It is designed as an active sculpture that provides a space to gather and is wrapped by a multi-layered blanket,” Yellowbird and Squadroni said in an artists’ statement.

“As a stop on the historic Trail of Death, this sculpture is envisioned as a place of warmth and renewal where current band members can gather and reflect or visitors to the park can learn about Potawatomi culture and history.”

A ribbon cutting and celebration for the artwork is tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 19. It will be located by an existing monument dedicated in 2013 near Heritage Park’s marina building. Tribal member and musician Elexa Dawson is composing an original song, which she will perform at the event.

The monument marks the location of a local encampment along the Trail of Death of 1838 when 859 Potawatomi Native Americans were forced to march from Indiana to an area near present-day Osawatomie, Kansas. During that journey of approximately 660 miles over 61 days, more than 40 people died, most of them children or elders.

Every five years, most recently in September 2023, members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation make a pilgrimage along the Trail of Death, including a stop at the Heritage Park Site.

As is the case for all JCPRD art projects, community engagement has been a part of this installation. Designs for the art installation were shared at the Potawatomi Nation national family reunion held last year in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with feedback coming from as far as Hawaii and Maine.

More recently, engagement has taken the form of 45 submissions of feather designs received from members of the Potawatomie tribe from 21 states, which will be pressed into metal and incorporated in the statue.

An interpretive panel for the art installation is being designed to further engage and educate members of the public about this tragic historic event. Johnson County Museum Curator of Interpretation Andrew Gustafson is collaborating with Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center Director Blake Norton to curate the content and images for this panel to be placed adjacent to the artwork.

To learn more about the “Fire Keepers Circle” project and the public art process, visit jcprd.com/1968/Heritage-Park-Public-Art-Project.

David Markham is communications specialist at the Johnson County Park and Recreation District.