LUTHER COLLEGE > Happenings > Luther News > 'Cold Water Cave' photograph exhibit on display at Luther Aug. 29-Oct. 28

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August 24, 2001

'Cold Water Cave' photograph exhibit on display at Luther Aug. 29-Oct. 28

DECORAH, Iowa - "Cold Water Cave," an exhibit of large-format color photographs by Jerry Grier and Sean Fitzgerald, will be displayed in the Luther College Koren Center, Aug 29 - Oct 28.

The display on the second and third levels of the Koren building includes 12 prints, each 24-by-30 inches. The photos are selected from a series of works created by Grier, assisted by Fitzgerald, from 1981-87.

The exhibit is open to the public with no charge for admission.

Located in Winneshiek County, Coldwater Cave is a large series of spectacular underground caverns that have been designated as a National Landmark. There is controlled access to the cave through a 100-foot ladder descent.

An accomplished commercial photographer, Grier also teaches photography at Hawkeye Community College, Waterloo, Iowa.

Over a seven-year period, Grier, assisted by Fitzgerald, made more than 80 descents to photograph the cave. The cave's environment is not conducive to photography. It is absolutely dark. The oxygen-deprived air never warms to more than 51 degrees and is saturated with high humidity from the constant infiltration of ground water and an icy stream that runs through the entire cavern.

Despite such obstacles, Grier has created hundreds of beautiful prints from 4-by-5 inch negatives. His "painting with light" technique required extremely long, multiple exposures during which hand-held lights were carried to and directed upon a variety of points within the anticipated image.

Each photograph could require several hours of preparation and exposure, and the results were not known until the film was developed back in the studio.

The prints in the exhibit represent a small portion of the 40 photographs that were given to Luther College by Wanda and Kenneth Flatland, who received them from the photographer. Access to Coldwater Cave is on property owned by the Flatland family.

Coldwater Cave is the largest known cavern in Iowa. The cave's geologic and hydrologic features are representative of the karst topography of northeast Iowa.

Water seeping through the region's Galena limestone subsoil strata dissolves the porous stone and creates openings along fractures and crevices. These cracks gradually enlarge, forming chambers and passages that can expand to considerable size if the rock ceilings of the cave's rooms collapse.

The linear formation of Coldwater Cave creates a passage for a stream that flows through the cavern for more than three miles. Seeping and flowing water leech minerals from the limestone and deposit them as stalactites, stalagmites and flowstone that form beautiful displays in several chambers.

The cave is not open to the public. The stream emerges in a spring on a 60-acre tract known as Cold Water Springs State Wildlife Area and Preserve. Located near Kendallville, Iowa, the preserve is part of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources parks and wildlife system and is open to the public.

Copyright 2002 Luther College