Black Hawk

For generations, draft horses carried the weight of farm life on their shoulders. Strong, intelligent and steady, they plowed fields, hauled hay, pulled tree stumps and carried families into town. John Lopez drew inspiration for Black Hawk from memories of his brother-in-law working a plow team, guiding the horses with subtle changes in the tone and rhythm of his voice.

As trains, tractors and other self-powered machinery transformed agriculture, draft horses gradually disappeared from working farms. Lopez honors their legacy by constructing Black Hawk from pieces of the very equipment that replaced them. Plow discs, tractor parts and other salvaged implements come together to form a powerful tribute to the animals that once made the agricultural world go round.

Look closely and the sculpture reveals smaller landscapes within its body: rolling hills along the horse’s back, the broad prairie horizon across its neck and an abstract representation of the Missouri River. Many of its parts carry histories of their own, including charred plow discs and the brass bell hanging from its tail, recovered from the remains of a collector’s burned outbuildings. In Black Hawk, Lopez gives these weathered fragments new life while preserving the history, ingenuity and enduring spirit of the American farm.