Iowa’s Public Art Exhibition
for America’s 250th
Central and Southwest Iowa
Declarations is a site-specific public art exhibition taking place July-September 2026 throughout Central and Southwest Iowa. Using art, storytelling, and public participation, Declarations turns public space into a living conversation about who we are and what we are building together for the next 250 years. Find exhibition details along with maps, events, suggested itineraries and artist interviews at declarations.art.
The public is also invited to contribute to a time capsule that will be concealed for 250 years at Union Park’s Heritage Carousel in Des Moines.
Learn more
Summer Schedule
October 7th 6:30 PM Poetry Palooza’s Reading Messages to the Future & Bread & Puppet’s The Upside Down World Circus
Arrive to Riverview Park by 6:30 to hear Poetry Palooza poets respond to submissions to the Declarations Time Capsule. Make sure to send your own message here.
Whiterock Conservancy
1436 Highway 141, Coon Rapids, IA 50058
Open daily website
About: The Heemstra’s Markers & Deep Roots installation features a series of five glazed ceramic sculptures placed along the Steve Garst Trail and town trail at Whiterock Conservancy. Positioned within the prairie landscape, the works act as markers for you to find as you enjoy the trail. Inspired by the act of mark-making, the sculptures echo our human impulse to leave a trace behind.
Like marks made on paper or clay, these forms become gestures within the landscape. Set among deep prairie roots and natural surroundings, the brightly stacked forms coexist within the ever changing environment.
Learn more about Markers & Deep Roots
Explore Anytime
Daily Through August Markers and Deep Roots
Whiterock Conservancy
1436 Highway 141, Coon Rapids, IA 50058
Open daily website
About: The Heemstra’s Markers & Deep Roots installation features a series of five glazed ceramic sculptures placed along the Steve Garst Trail and town trail at Whiterock Conservancy. Positioned within the prairie landscape, the works act as markers for you to find as you enjoy the trail. Inspired by the act of mark-making, the sculptures echo our human impulse to leave a trace behind.
Like marks made on paper or clay, these forms become gestures within the landscape. Set among deep prairie roots and natural surroundings, the brightly stacked forms coexist within the ever changing environment.
Learn more about Markers & Deep Roots
Deadline August 28th Send a Message to the Future
About: The Declarations Time Capsule invites Iowans to leave a message for future generations. Your words will be preserved and opened in the year 2276. What might you say?
*What do you hope the world looks like in the year 2276?
*What do you hope future generations will know, protect, or celebrate?
*What have you done to help shape that future?
The Declarations phone number is dedicated to receiving your answers to the questions above: 515-303-0399
or
Visit declarations.art/time to share your message.
Daily through September Listening Field
Greenbelt Park
Creekside Pavilion (1803 114th St., Clive)
🎧 Bring headphones!
👟 Wear good walking shoes
📱 Download echoes app
Listening Field is an immersive art installation made of music composed for spaces throughout Clive’s Greenbelt Park and Trail system. From June – September 2026, recordings of piano, voice, saxophone and electronics will be geo-mapped between NW 100th St. and NW 114th St., accessible via the free soundwalk app, Echoes. As the listener moves throughout the park and trail system each piece is triggered automatically and flows seamlessly into the next.
This project was made possible by a grant from Bravo Greater Des Moines.
Daily through September Seeds of Memory
Wallace Farm
2773 290th Street, Orient, IA
website
Open daily, self-guided tours of the Wallace Farm are available any time of the day or evening. During the summer, staff are usually on site during the day Monday-Friday.
🎧 Bring headphones!
👟 Wear good walking shoes
📱 Download echoes app
Seeds of Memory is an immersive art installation. Read more here.
Open Wed-Sun It’s In The Water
Wilson’s Orchard & Farm 3201 15th Ave, Cumming, IA 50061
Farm, Farm Market, & Farmyard
Mon – Tue (Closed)
Wed – Sun (9am – 9pm)
Free & open to public.
Water is at the center of some of Iowa’s most urgent conversations—and this summer, a new public artwork invites us to see it differently.
It’s in the Water is a site-specific installation by Parts Per Million Collective (Emily Newman & Edward Kelley). Installed directly on the pond, It’s in the Water is a floating, barn quilt–inspired sculpture that blends art, science, and environmental intervention. Built from reclaimed materials and equipped with experimental algae bioreactors developed by the artists, the work engages with Iowa’s waterways in real time—removing nitrates, capturing carbon, and making visible the systems that shape our shared environment.
PARTNERS & SPONSORS
Declarations is a collaborative initiative of Group Creative Services and Whiterock Conservancy in partnership with City of Clive, Heritage Carousel, Poetry Palooza, Union Park, Wallace Centers of Iowa, Wilson’s Orchard and World Food Prize. Additional support is provided by Bravo Greater Des Moines, Fred & Charlotte Hubbell, Inspire Iowa and Invest DSM.