At the end of the last Ice Age, water flowing from the eastern Sierra created a lush lake and river system stretching from Mono Lake to Death Valley. Suggestions of this ancient watershed survive as a series of dry lakebeds connected by the now dry Owens River. The drier post-Ice Age climate transformed this region into the spectacular desert we know today as Owens Valley and Death Valley.

Offered by Stanford University's Continuing Education department in the spring of 2000, From Mono Lake to Death Valley was a lecture/field workshop to re-imagine and trace this ancient lake and river system with a series of land-art works created during a four-day field trip. The course included Sierra geologic history, a survey of major land-art practitioners, and a field trip, during which site-specific installations were created at compelling locations along the water's ancient pathway.

This course was taught by Stanford geology professor, Elizabeth Miller, PhD, and artists Jim Mason and Mark Brest van Kempen.