Murals
Awaken the Healing, 2023
UW-Stevens Point Campus
Created as a memorial to honor our ancestors, the Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, Menominee and Potawatomi that are buried on the UW-Stevens Point Campus. The mural captures the essence of our ancestors through the monochromatic color scheme and imagery in the background. The male wearing the headdress, singing with the hand drum symbolizes that our culture and ancestors live on through our languages, songs and teachings. The ancestors in the background support, encourage and uplift future generations through spirit celebrating our successes. The four graduates represent our tribal UW Alum, current and future students. They stand on the land of their ancestors and feel their presence, gathered along the water to signify their camps along the Wisconsin River. The University's colors of purple and yellow are incorporated in the sunset. Accompanying the mural is a poem titled, "Earth Diver", written by Christopher's cousin, Denise Sweet (White Earth Ojibwe).
"Earth Diver"
Through shards of pots
And musky tangled roots
We swim the crushed soil
And clumps of clay to wind
our way from the underground,
Our hands reach for the sunlight
Like shimmering arrowheads
Voices emerging, dust to dust
Still breathing our names
Still singing our songs.
Denise Sweet
Raising Our Sisters, 2022
Commission for the Farm/Art DTour
Temporary Art Installation
Inspired by the Legend of the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash).
The companion crops are planted together to lift, nurture and support one another.
The piece humanizes the sisters to remind us to treat all living things like our relatives.
Connectedness, 2023
Commissioned by the Friends of the Great Sauk State
TrailGreat Sauk State Trail
"It’s important to me as an artist, to create art that can be an opportunity to bring more awareness to the connection our Ho-Chunk Ancestors had to the land and their influence on communities throughout Wisconsin and specifically here in Sauk City.
Before I share my vision for the mural, I want to thank the Friends of the Great Sauk State Trail, Lindsey Giese for coordinating the project and the Wisconsin Department of Administration, ARPA Tourism Capital Grant Program for the funding. Thank you to Little Eagle Arts Foundation for the studio workspace, and my friends and family that helped with installation.
I also wanted to thank Lt Governor Sara Rodriguez for coming today. She visited the site of the mural in 2023, while it was still a concept so it’s great to see her at the dedication today.
In preparing for the call for art, I found myself thinking how this trail connects us. My personal connection to this untouched region that we call the driftless and the homelands of my ancestors, the Ho-Chunk.
The imagery is intended to capture the connection of all of our ancestors to this area, the water, and the beauty of this landscape. The panels themselves are staggered to add dimension, visual interest and the V formation symbolizes an eagle in flight. The ciiporake, round home/dwelling, welcomes guests of the Great Sauk State Trail, to feel at home and feel connected to our community. The silhouettes contrast to the bright colors of the sky and the canoes honor those that navigated these waterways thousands of years ago. The Wisconsin River has shaped and evolved this waterscape and remains an invaluable asset to the ecosystem of the community. This trail connects us to the past. Once a railroad that moved resources and provided transportation, this same path is now being used to reconnect people and surrounding communities in a meaningful way.
It took a while for me to title the mural. I chose Connectedness because it is defined as a STATE OF BEING joined or linked, a FEELING of belonging to. As visitors enjoy the Great Sauk State Trail, I want them to feel a sense of belonging to, in a state of being connected to nature, connected to friends/family and connected to their spiritual, emotional, physical and mental well-being.
Waiiniginapwi (Thank you all).
Christopher Sweet
Mural Dedication, Oct 8, 2024
Song for the Seven Sisters, 2021
Commission for CREATE Portage County
Amherst, WI
Inspired by the story and constellation, the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, daughters of the Greek God, Atlas. The galaxy represents our connection to our star stories, important origin stories for Native people. The Native women hold hands as a unified voice to represent the women's suffrage movement. Using their voice to influence decisions not just for today but for the next seven generations. The first stanza of the poem, "Song for the Seven Sisters", written by Denise Sweet, is handwritten on the mural by the artist. Barn mural is located at Fernwood Acres and can be viewed on Highway 54 between Plover & Waupaca driving west near Hartman Creek State Park.
"Song for the Seven Sisters"
Hear my voice. It is my voice. I speak to your naked heart
— Native American Dream Song
Those that kept us true to course, those that held our strength, that led us to stand as people of this land,
those that lean together like stalks of corn against the fierce winds of change without waver, without compromise
with songs so simple—melodies of Crane and Wolfand sometimes Thunder, songs deepened by somber memories,
songs echoing through the chambers of every heart yearning to be heardy earning for peace and justice—
They spoke to our naked hearts. Even when hallowed halls are ablaze and marble chambers collapse into dust, even while statues tip and fall They will know this beloved land They will draw every breath as though for the first time delivering songs of courage and joy, to a blue horizon of endless possibility.
Denise Sweet
The Creator and the Four Lakes, 2019
Commission for Madison College
South Goodman Campus
Inspired by the Ho-Chunk creation story of the four lakes of Madison.
In the beginning, or not long after, the Creator, the Earthmaker, came down from the North. He stopped here, in a clearing surrounded by forest and marked with four deep hollows. Famished from the long journey, he filled his clay cooking pot with water from a nearby spring, added some deer meat and edible roots, and started cooking. While waiting for his meal, he continued his exploration of the woods – until he heard a loud hissing back at camp. He rushed back to find his pot overflowing, the water bubbling up and pouring down the sides to fill the depressions one by one: Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, Kegonsa.