Finding a sense of place in the contemporary environment, our journey will take us on a quest asking questions about landscape, cultural survival, similarities and differences. This is a literal and metaphorical gesture pointing towards our relationship to each other, our environment, and our legacy. This website will serve as a logbook.

The title, ‘Crossing the Great Divide’,– implies crossing the barrier that separates people as well as the physical ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Gestures of transcending the ‘divide’ could be as simple as acts of kindness in introducing oneself to a stranger or as layered as writing an essay, poem, or sharing scientific data. Our goal in short, is the participation of individuals around the world in helping to remap the Earth as a home for tolerance. We are setting survey markers as we travel along sites of historic trauma to Native America. We hope to continue this survey project and re writing of history by asking allied people to accept an unfired clay marker as a gesture of support. By holding a marker, individuals become a benchmark of tolerance beyond just North American borders. Tolerance is also a survey term that metaphorically points to our mission of,– whereby when a closer radius of measurement is achieved (more markers), a higher standard of tolerance results.

Don was born in Chicago and currently lives in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois where he studied Graphic Design and he received his Masters degree in Painting from the Ohio State University. His passion for the landscape can be tied to extensive hiking and photographic trips in Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Rocky Mountain National US Parks, Waterton, Kootenay and Banff Canadian National Parks. Long distance cycling eventually lead him to the conclusion that the time has come to recognize the act of riding a bicycle as an artistic gesture. By integrating slow travel though the landscape with a painting process, he has explored the natural spaces and personal histories that have come to define an individual sense of place. By integrating a web-dialogue component to his work, he has begun to explore the notion of a collective unconscious experience of landscape and place where by a fellow traveler may also experience nature through shared stories from remote locations. Currently, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Visual Communication at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Julia was born in Evanston, Illinois and is the daughter of Don. She attended the University of Illinois where she graduated with a degree in English and also Masters in Library Science. Her interest lies in the nexus between art and information and she has created installations that give physical form to research. Currently, she is a Librarian and Instructional Materials Lecturer at the Bronx Community College in Bronx, New York city.

Anders was born in Evanston, Illinois and is the son of Don. He attended the University of Illinois where he graduated with a degree in Graphic Design and also works with experimental sound and visual art installations. Currently, he is a Graphic Designer and web developer working at the Chicago Council for Science and Technology.

Adrian is an Ecological Scientist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His dissertation work has taken him into his current focus on studying the atmospheric affects of escaped natural gas from urban infra- structures.

Mark is an Chicago area singer-songwriter, who is part Cherokee. He plays Native American flute and acoustic guitar. You can hear his work at the World Music Festival and places like the Old Town School in Chicago and the Field Museum’s Ancient Americas exhibition. He has recorded with Yo Yo Ma and has shared the stage with Golden Globe winner Bill Miller.

Pat is a teacher in the Evanston, IL school system and lifelong advocate for humanitarian and environmental causes. Supporting children’s voices and working with the Jane Goodall initiative to make a difference in the world. Fluent in French, she speaks 5 languages and is always first to bridge the divide and engage people across cultures.

Quincy is an Associate Professor of Sociology and a Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. He is interested in the dynamic processes that create inequalities in socioeconomic status, health and mortality. Stewart has published on quantitative methods for studying inequality, the estimation of mortality, and on racial and ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status, health and mortality.

CONTACT

Don Pollack, dpollack@saic.edu