The Cairn Project

Title: The Cairn Project

Year: 2013

Artist: Bronwyn Minton

Medium: Balsa wood

Original Location: Center for the Art, Jackson WY

Current Location: Teton Media Works, Jackson WY

Funding By: Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, Wyoming Arts Council, Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, C3, 4JH, the Cultural Council of Jackson Hole, Peter and Susan Ordway, Carl and Dana Nagel, Cathryn Brodie and in-kind support from Jorgensen Associates.

In the mountains, delicate mounds of rocks – cairns – invite trekkers to pause and reflect: Who made this cairn, and why? Is it a trail marker or a memorial? In downtown Jackson, artist-made mounds invite passersby to pause and reflect. Bronwyn Minton’s “The Cairn Project” was originally installed in August 2013 on the Center for the Arts’ northeast corner along Cache Street and it now resides at Teton Media Works’ JH News & Guide office along Maple Way.

The sculptural cairns are meant to inspire reflection on the routes we take as a community. People are encouraged to rebuild the small cairns as they wish. The small mounds’ ever-shifting design will accumulate meaning as metaphors for how communities configure and reconfigure. The Cairn Project is a community built artwork in many ways. To aid in her construction of the smaller cairns - that encircle the central tower - Minton recruited local artists and friends to help carve interchangeable components out of balsa wood, with smooth angles and sculptural surfaces that were ultimately will finished in red or black stain. Bronwyn’s creative impact was so far-reaching, she was recognized with the Cultural Council of Jackson Hole’s 2013 Award for Creativity.