A Mosaic Elk at Prairie Creek

Those who wander into the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor Center are in for an encounter with a Roosevelt elk — but not the usual live elk typically found in nearby Elk Prairie.

Instead, they’ll find a one-of-a-kind, glass-encrusted bull elk sculpture by Jennifer a’Midi, a local Southern Humboldt mosaic artist. Her 225-pound, life-sized Roosevelt elk sculpture features museum-quality antlers and is covered from head to tail with thousands of hand-cut pieces of glass. The latter form a mosaic with scenes of 138 unique habitat types along with local plants, animals and fungi — including seven banana slugs and a California Condor.

“Redwood National and State Parks is honored to host a’Midi’s custom-made artwork, and we are thrilled to connect visitors to creative experiences in the parks, which provide inspiration and connection to nature,” said Shelana deSilva, Deputy District Superintendent as she introduced a’Midi at the Sept. 13 unveiling event. The Yurok Tribal council will be voting on a Yurok name for the mosaic elk, which State Parks will then put on an accompanying plaque. The event, hosted by California State Parks North Coast Redwoods, Redwood Parks Conservancy and Redwood National and State Parks, ended with a scavenger hunt for 22 of a’Midi’s mosaic rocks. 

 The Prairie Creek mosaic elk is the fourth mosaic art sculpture a’Midi has gifted to a North Coast Redwoods District Park unit. She donated her “Mushroom Connection” mosaic sculpture, featuring mushrooms and a river scene with otters and salmonids, to the historic Richardson Grove Lodge at the Richardson Grove State Park Centennial celebration in 2023. A’Midi also gifted her mosaic otter named “Tce yac” to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park Visitor Center in 2023 (“A SoHum Otter Gets its Name,” June 4, 2023.) Her giant mushroom mosaic “Midnight,” the common name of the fungi Entoloma medianoxa, was gifted to the Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor Center in 2024.

 What motivates a’Midi to create these painstaking mosaic works and give them away to local California State Parks? “I have a deep passion for the redwoods and protecting them, so I share my art with the public to hopefully inspire conservation and protection of our forests and all the creatures within,” said a’Midi. “As Pablo Picasso, the famous Spanish artist, once said, ‘The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.’”

 “After I made the one for Grizzly Creek State Park, I felt a deep passion to make these mosaic pieces for as many visitor centers as I can. Every time I’ve visited Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, I see the beautiful elk, so I proposed gifting a mosaic elk to State Parks District Superintendent Victor Bjelajac and he approved my idea.”

 “Jennifer’s attention to detail and species is spectacular in her art and she’s doing a public service at our visitor centers with her donations,” said Bjelajac.

 To begin, a’Midi ordered a museum-quality fiberglass and resin sculpture from Texas and then began choosing scenes of California’s North Coast. “I love to draw so I drew a Prairie Side and an Ocean Side scene on each side of the elk representing the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park,” said a’Midi. “I enjoyed researching all the flora, fauna and fungi of the Prairie Creek area and chose the ones I could interpret as recognizable in mosaic. The California Condor is very special to me as I have been watching their restoration through the Yurok tribe’s work with them. It’s amazing and I wanted to honor that work.”

“I hope Prairie Creek visitors will be inspired when they see my mosaic elk and I hope they all find the seven banana slugs,” said a’Midi.

 As for the biggest challenge in making life forms recognizable in mosaic, a’Midi said, “Covering any 3D object with a flat piece of glass is a challenge. Curved surfaces require smaller cuts of the glass so it lays as flat as possible. Small crevices are difficult to get the glass in. Grouting is the most physical part. The best part was wiping the grout off and seeing my vision become this amazing creation. It took a little over a year. I’m not sure on hours, but I worked on it every day or was researching or engineering it.”

 The “Great Elk Migration” took six people to carry the finished mosaic elk out of a’Midi’s home to a waiting trailer. A convoy of four vehicles followed the elk north to the Prairie Creek Visitor Center and moved it into its permanent location indoors where it will be safe. 

 A’Midi said her next mosaic animal project will be a black bear for Sue-meg State Park Visitor Center (formerly Patrick’s Point State Park). Bjelajac joked that a’Midi only had 275 more California state parks to go after her mosaic bear was completed.

Mark Larson (he/him) is a retired Cal Poly Humboldt journalism professor and active freelance photographer who likes to walk.

This article appears in Protecting the Night.