This annual invitational exhibition asked artists to engage with the native prairie lands of the Midwest, its history and inhabitants, the intersection of ecology and art, as well as poetry and Emily Dickinson’s poem titled “To make a prairie.” I responded with a hand colored lithograph titled Life Beneath the Surface stressing soils essential role for a thriving prairie.

Kent Kapplinger, Life Beneath the Surface, lithograph, 40” x 15”, 2025