Animal Behavior

Social justice interpreter Jen Hofer and I collaborated to create and install a monument to escape in Cañon City, Colorado. We were inspired to re-interpret the "Old Gray Mare" a wooden structure used to lash prisoners. Our Gray Mare is built from obelisk forms inspired by the bollards surrounding the ADX Florence "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado. Our Gray Mare's tail is made from braided bed sheets. Sheets were braided into makeshift ropes by prisoners when attempting escape from the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility.

Our "Gray Mare" monument to escape installed without permission in a Cañon City, Colorado public park.
Our "Gray Mare" monument to escape installed without permission in a Cañon City, Colorado public park.
Sheets were braided into makeshift ropes by prisoners when attempting escape from the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility.
The "Old Gray Mare" used as a whipping post to lash prisoners.
Obelisk bollards in front of ADX Florence, the federal “supermax” prison known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies”
Sculpting and assembling our "Gray Mare"
Sculpting and assembling our "Gray Mare"
Sculpting and assembling our "Gray Mare"
Our "Gray Mare" before paint.