In Focus: ‘The Rhythm of the Hill Annex Mine’ at Bemidji’s Watermark Art Center

While peace, quiet, and art may not be the first things you think of when you think of an old mine, that’s what went through Minnesota artist Aaron Squadroni’s thoughts when he visited the old Hill Annex Mine State Park in Calumet.

“The Hill Annex Mine was interesting to me because it had more of the history preserved and so that was part of why I went there, and it was fairly accessible and fairly quiet,” explained artist Aaron Squadroni, “There aren’t big crowds.”

Squadroni spends a lot of his time running, hiking, and exploring. And when he stumbled across the Calumet mines, inspiration struck for his “The Rhythm of the Hill Annex Mine” art exhibit, which is now on display at Bemidji’s Watermark Art Center.

“The title of the show is ‘The Rhythm,’ but kind of patterns and movement of the the rock patterns and kind of how the trees were regrowing and just this sort of language of the minescape that you don’t see in other places,” he said.

The artist held an opening talk earlier this month at the Watermark to explain his process.

“All the large drawings were done with a wire brush. I take a piece of paper and then I paint it with kind of a abrasive paint, and then I can draw on it with metal,” Squadroni said. “So metalpoint is kind of this older process. And I’m using brushes, so a lot of the large pictures are very soft and kind of almost fuzzy.”

The mines closed down back in 1978, and the area became an official state park a decade later. But in 2025, the state plans to re-open the mines, so the state park has been abolished.

“I’m glad that I was able to focus on it before it eventually is no longer there,” added Squadroni.

The exhibit will be on display at the Watermark Art Center through April 25th.