photo by: Rochelle Valverde/Journal-World

Iⁿ‘zhúje‘waxóbe — which is pronounced “EE(n) ZHOO-jay wah-HO-bay” and literally means “sacred red rock” — is pictured on June 2, 2023.

Before the sacred prayer rock stolen from the Kaw Nation is returned to the tribe in August, artists are being invited to help document its current station at Robinson Park at an event later this month.

On Sunday, July 23, the project team working to return the prayer rock will host two artist workshops from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Robinson Park, located at 4 W. Sixth St. between where the two sides of the Kansas River Bridge meet Sixth Street.

The project team is inviting poets, musicians, photographers and everyone else who’s interested to create an evocation, interpretation or observation of any aspect of the park where Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe — which is pronounced “EE(n) ZHOO-jay wah-HO-bay” and literally means “sacred red rock” — has been located since being stolen and made into a monument to Lawrence settlers.

Selected works will become part of an exhibition in 2024-25 and may be featured on the project team’s website and in a forthcoming book about the project.

The rock has been at Robinson Park since 1929, when a group of Lawrence officials and community members arranged to take the 28-ton red quartzite boulder from its longtime resting place along the Shunganunga Creek near Tecumseh, where the creek joins with the Kansas River.

The project to return the rock is led by members of the Kaw Nation in collaboration with the City of Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, Kanza Heritage Society and others. Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe will be moved to Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park in Council Grove, on land owned by the Kaw Nation.