Four towering figures rise beside the Rock River in Rockford, Illinois, each roughly 12 feet tall and built entirely from stacked boulders. At first glance they look ancient, as if they had always belonged to the riverbank.
A closer look reveals something stranger: human shapes emerging from rough stone, watching quietly over the path that winds along the water. Most people driving through northern Illinois never realize they are there.
These giants appeared in the late 1980s, created by Milwaukee artist Terese Agnew using real boulders bound together with cement. No polished marble…