Nancy Holt's "Star Crossed"

Undated and unattributed photograph from the Center for Land Use Interpretation website

According to the CLUI database, Nancy Holt's Star Crossed would be closed due to its dilapidated state. Sunday, Amelia and I were on a mission to see it and vowed we would photograph it whether or not we could get close. It was the summer of many earthworks after all. Why not see one in a neighboring state that was only an hour out of our way?

This is what it looked like shortly after it was built (1979-1980). Image via. 

The CLUI link above also states:

"The piece is made primarily of earth, originally mounded to a height of 14 feet, covering two concrete tubes, one aligned north-south and the other east-west, held in place by a buried steel frame. Until recently, the grounds crew of the University has been attempting to maintain it as part of the landscaping of the property, and it has not been treated as an artwork with special conservatorial needs. Some years ago, due to insufficient irrigation, the grass covering died, and the soil, thus exposed to erosion, slowly slumped down the steep slopes. The sculpture was rebuilt, but with the existing clay subsoil mixed into the topsoil, making for a less resilient form. Efforts to preserve the piece are said to be moving forward, under a new director at the art museum."

 

Here is the satellite map we were armed with to find Star Crossed after leaving the car in the Miami University Art Museum parking lot. We were hoping for something in between the CLUI photograph above and the cover of Sculpture magazine. We were also grateful that the huge rainstorm (number 746 of the season) had passed. The grass was wet but not muddy. If you think the following photographs are overly saturated, blame the non stop rain as they are close to accurate in color temperature.

First sighting.

Creeping closer...

and closer. There is graffiti on the right side of the interior of the tube. It was a little dank and trashy so we did not venture inside.

View of the 6 PM sun through the concrete tube in the opposite direction. Unlike visiting Sun Tunnels in May, the solar rays were plentiful this afternoon.

Overgrown plaque.

The whole point of the piece (or at least the placement of the top tube) is lost without water. Even all the rain could not fill the pool. We climbed up to the back (yes the soil is still uneven but at least it is not mowed) and looked through, wishfully thinking it would be restored soon.

Apparently, I cannot pass up taking a photograph of my muse in a Smoosh t-shirt.

I do not know what it would take to restore Star Crossed and whether or not that would be Holt's intention. I wish all universities that commissioned these earthworks in the first place had the capability of Western Washington University to maintain them.

Earthworks Road Trip Through the Binoculars

The theme that keeps on giving...

Two versions of the Ant Farm's Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

Chinati Foundation, Donald Judd's Concrete Sculptures (so blurry it hurts)

Marfa Lights Observation Building at Sunset (these are the only Marfa Lights we saw and they were photographed from a telescope)

Imagine Walter De Maria's Lightning Field at sunset here.

Very Large Array, Socorro, New Mexico

South Kaibob Trail, South Rim of the Grand Canyon

Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

Michael Heizer's Double Negative with and without scale reference.

Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels (ideal for the format)

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty

Sun Tunnels (and sheep!)

How often is one stopped by a train en route to an earthwork? We were in Lucin, Utah.

The view from the backseat shows Lexi in the mirror and a couple from Italy in the distance.

My third visit to Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels produced very little sun. This was a brief glimpse of the only shadows we saw inside the sculpture over the two hours we spent there.

I had a long list of performative actions that I solicited from others for Sun Tunnels. For many of them, I enlisted help from willing participants on the field study. The beginning of Hannah Barnes' request for a sun salutation in the middle of the tunnels was performed by four of us but the finale featured me throwing a heart of mud to the east. Photo by Kyla Tighe.

Here Sarah Lassiter is blowing bubbles from a hole that could possible point toward Draco for Nate Larson's request. There is also a hyper lapse video of a variation on Amelia Morris' desire to see me/us crawl through one (the ending is on Instagram).

This was one of my favorite moments when everyone was sketching or observing the artwork. I spent a great deal of time silently studying this piece and look forward to eventually revealing what contents will appear in the Observational Kit.

We drove the northerly route from Sun Tunnels to Spiral Jetty and once again, we were stopped by an obstruction in the road: sheep! This time it proved to be more entertaining as many photographs and videos were taken of the bleating lambs.

Satellite Views of Land Art

I rediscovered this link recently when wondering what a satellite view of Lightning Field looks like (not much as it turns out). Wishing I had thought to incorporate this perspective in the 2009 earthworks project but happy I am able to use it as research this year.

Michael Heizer's Double Negative

Robert Smithson's Amarillo Ramp
 

Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels