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Stalagmite Creamsicles / Triangle Garden

Latham Zearfoss with Anders Zanichkowsky

About Stalagmite Creamsicles / Triangle Garden

Stalagmite Creamsicles is the latest public land artwork by Chicago artist and activist Latham Zearfoss, with Anders Zanichkowsky.

It began in Winter 2023 with an installation of large colorful ice sculptures dyed with natural pigments and containing seeds for native plants at the McKinley Park Community Garden.

The shimmering, gem-like allure of these sculptures was meant to heighten our appreciation for the healthy Winter season that is necessary to preserve them, and even inspire a bit of sadness as the sculptures shrink and disintegrate. In the meantime they reminded us of the beloved popsicles and paletas sold across the city.

In Summer 2023 and beyond, a Triangle Garden will bloom from this artwork, attracting bees and butterflies, and improving the soil and air. Latham and Anders, along with Youth Stewards Ricky Chen and Tulio Hernandez, will invite the community to an opening celebration with art/ecology workshops on June 10th.

Stalagmite Creamsicles offered an interruption of the notoriously gray Chicago winter, while also providing a conduit for sorrow and anxiety around our warming planet. The Triangle Garden that remains transforms this unease into an act of repair, catalyzed by deep, devotional respect for Earth’s natural beauty.

This project was generously funded by E(art)H Chicago with added support from Tiger Strikes Asteroid, The Chicago Park District, Caron Wenzel of Blazing Star and Nicholas Fuller of Natural Communities Native Plants.

Neighborhood: McKinley Park

Art Type: Sculpture / Garden

Grant Amount: $11,150

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About the Artists

Latham Zearfoss works in Chicago, where they produce time-based images, objects and experiences about selfhood and otherness. Outside of the studio, they contribute to collective motions toward joy and reflection through social projects such as a queer dance party (Chances Dances), a critical space for white allyship (Make Yourself Useful), and an itinerant conference on socially-engaged art (Open Engagement). Latham graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in 2008 and the University of Illinois at Chicago with an MFA in 2011. They have exhibited their work, screened their videos, and DJed internationally and all over the U.S.

Anders Zanichkowsky makes art about grief, desire, and our longing for another world, creating beautiful places for people to rest, lust, and feel heartbroken together. They have had residencies with The Arctic Circle sailing expedition in Svalbard, Røst AiR in Sápmi/Norway, and the Chicago Park District’s Cultural Asset Mapping Project. Here in Chicago they are the owner and weaver of Burial Blankets, making handwoven shrouds for green burial that are meant for enjoyment and reflection during life. Anders has an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2019) and a BA from Hampshire College (2008) and was recently awarded a SPARK grant from Chicago Artist Coalition.