Local Dakota Art displayed by augmented reality

Dakota Sacred Hoop Walk displays different aspects of the Dakota Culture.

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By Katrina Bailey / The Hubbard School

The Dakota Sacred Hoop Walk started in 2021, with the five stops finishing in the summer of 2023.

The walk is located at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, where the Honeycrisp apple was developed.

Created by local artist Marlena Myles, a member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Tribe, the art is displayed through augmented reality. Revelo Ar's app brings art to life by scanning plaques and holding your phone in a certain way to see the display.

The walk starts in the Harrison Sculpture Garden with each of the five stops representing something different. The Four Winds, the Red and Maple, The Mighty Oak, the Pine Grove, and the Kiciuzapi Sculpture.

Wendy DePaolis, the Curator Art and Sculpture at the arboretum, said coming back to the walk in every season is different and brings different aspects of the Dakota culture.

"The entire work is narrator by a Dakota language narrator so you are learning Dakota words and for the plants along the way,” DePaolis said.

This place is about thirty minutes away from the University of Minnesota. The distance and the app not working on some people's phones limit the amount of traffic this site gets.

Even with that, this site is important to explain the land we are on. Visitor Cole Sarar said she discovered the walk on her first visit two days ago.

"Knowing the history and the context of the landscape thst we exist in is really fantastic. It's important for us to understand our relationship with space and with other people,” Sarar said.

Admission is free for Indigenous people and 20 dollars for all others. What you'll learn from the walk may be worth far more.