Wolf Lake is a small man-made lake on the southeast corner of Chicago that extends into northwest Indiana. Industrial sites, mostly steel mills and oil refineries surround the lake. Because the lake is divided by a state boundary the manner in which the lake is governed is bifurcated. The Illinois side of the lake is a former Nike missile base and is currently a conservation area complete with picnic areas, concession stands and hosts fishing contests and hunting. The Indiana side of the lake contains an uncontrolled toxic dump.
I was drawn to this marginal landscape in part because it reminded me of the industrial landscape of my home, but also because the Indiana side was in some ways a region that nature was attempting to reclaim and that wasn’t under the control of man (although man’s abuse of that environment was apparent everywhere.)
Artwork from the Wolf Lake Project is mostly mixed-media. My interest with this work is my personal relationship to the area, my actions as an artist, the limitations of the photograph and an investigation of materials as they relate to this specific place. My interest and research in this area is one of a poet investigating a crime scene, the photographs containing “clues” about the place.
These images are from the exhibition “Strange Place to Call Home”, shown at the Kemper Art Center of William Woods University, January, 2006.
The objects from this exhibition are all crafted by the artist. The black and white photographs are traditional silver prints primarily from 4x5” negatives, photographed using a hand-made lenses and cameras.