You might not know it, but just a few miles east of Cincinnati is a prehistoric effigy referred to as Serpent Mound—a 1,348-foot-long, four-foot-high mound, the largest in the world of its kind.
The area has been a sacred ritual site of indigenous Native Americans for centuries, but artist Ken Landon Buck happened upon the idea for his latest exhibition entirely by accident while visiting.
“Serpent Mound is the spiritual place I go to whenever I feel out of whack with the world. I know it sounds hokey, but being there is restorative to me. I always visit on every solstice and equinox, and one day, I happened to see people performing a ritual ceremony,” he said. “The ceremony moved me so much. I started taking pictures, and eventually the group let me wander around with them. Then, I realized, ‘This would make a great painting.’ And what started as one painting materialized into 34.”
The exhibit, titled “Serpent Mound: Observations of the Seen, the Unseen, the Mystical, and the Reverent,” is on display at Studio Kroner from now until June 27.
Buck spent three years traveling back and forth from Cincinnati to Serpent Mound, capturing several indigenous rituals and the land around them via pastel, watercolor and gouache.
“When I watched the ceremonies, I was moved because they were singing and dancing with joy and didn’t care who was watching. Nobody was, like, paying them to do this. I’m the total opposite, I’m kind of shy about certain things. But they were just doing their thing, honoring Mother Earth and doing good for the world,” he said.
On most days, Buck teaches watercolor and pastel classes to students at Baker Hunt Art & Cultural Center. He compared his passion for teaching to the passion he saw on display at the ceremonies.
“I tell people when they’re painting that everything has a soul. Whether it’s a rock or a tree, paint it like it has a soul, and you’ll care about what you’re painting,” he said. “And I kind of think that’s what happens with these civilizations, and they have their own way of preserving their history and also doing something for the world through what they strongly believe in. For me, what I strongly believe in is painting and the power of art.”
While Buck isn’t beholden to one specific religion himself—he was raised Methodist and never felt it had the answers he was seeking, but defining his current beliefs is “a big bear trap,” he says, instead noting he follows a mix of “New Age, pagan, metaphysical, whatever you want to call it”—he feels that the mound has a special “energy” you can’t find anywhere else.
“It’s hard to put into words. A lot of sacred places in the world are supposedly connected to the other side. To me, those (indigenous) people feel the connection. And because I’m connected to those people that are there, I feel connected, too,” he said. “When I first went there, I had very strong dreams, and I came home super charged up and really creative, and was able to get through some hard things in my life because of it. I really think it gave me the strength.”
“Serpent Mound: Observations of the Seen, the Unseen, the Mystical, and the Reverent” is on display now at Studio Kroner. For more information, visit the exhibition’s official website.
