Born in 1950 in Protection, Kansas, Stan Herd is an artist most well known in the state for his crop art, or more colloquially known as "earthworks." Using large areas of land, he creates sculptures using the earth itself as both the canvas and the "paint," so to speak. Often involving plowing, planting, mowing, and yes, even burning the land, Herd has completed over 30 crop arts around the globe, including the mural of Kiowa War Chief Satanta (1979) and more recently a recreation of Van Gogh's Olive Trees in Minneapolis, which was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. What you are standing on now, however, is likely Herd's least recognized work. Made from many different colored rocks and stones, he created a sort of "quilt" on this levee in 1988 for the 4th of July.
That is unfortunately all the information I have been able to find about this particular work of his. It was hard enough trying to find the artist for this piece, but there isn't even a name for this work. It's often credited as "Stan Herd's Kansas (Kaw) River Levee Below Bowerstock Dam in Lawrence." Most people I've talked to about this work have never even heard of it, let alone know who made it. It isn't even credited on his own website. It's a mystery why it's oft forgotten about.
As a NoLaw native myself, I have crossed the bridge over the Kansas River nearly every day of my life, and always saw this lonely bouquet of flowers and always wondered who made it. Now I do, and so do you. The bittersweet beauty of earthworks is that they fade away quite quickly, and are only survived by the photographs taken of them. This one too, has lost a significant chunk of it's bottom. So take pictures while it lasts!
Pretty easy cache, overall! But while you should be alright to walk on it, please do not move any rocks from where they originally were. Do not be like "Dave + Carla" and remove bits of the artwork to make a dumb message. Please, don't. BYOP!
If you have any more information about this work, please let me know in your logs!