Live Wood Sculpture Festival

The Harry Whitehorse International Wood Sculpture Festival, in partnership with the Friends of San Damiano, is a week long outdoor artist residency held on the shores of Lake Monona in Monona, Wisconsin. Building on the success of its inaugural festival, the event brings together internationally recognized sculptors to work on site, create new large scale works, share previous pieces, and engage directly with the surrounding community throughout their stay.

The festival is culturally and artistically significant as the first international wood sculpture festival dedicated to an Indigenous artist. It honors the legacy of Harry Whitehorse, a Ho Chunk sculptor from Monona whose work was deeply rooted in land based traditions, and cultural continuity. Through wood sculpture, the festival centers Indigenous perspectives while fostering cross cultural exchange and strengthening public understanding of Indigenous art and history within the living landscape of San Damiano Monona.

What sets the festival apart is its integration of Indigenous leadership with contemporary and traditional carving practices from around the world. Artists work side by side in an open outdoor setting, combining ancestral techniques and modern approaches. The emphasis on Indigenous presence, international collaboration, and meaningful public engagement creates an experience that is immersive, grounded in place, and shaped by cultural respect as much as by the finished works themselves.

MEDIA INQUIRIES: debwhitehorse@gmail.com