The Spiral Jetty
October 20th, 2006Last week, Heather and I went out to see the Spiral Jetty, an earth-art piece that is built into the Great Salt Lake. It’s a cool thing to see. We only saw a couple of other cars on our way out and realized once we were there that we only had about 35 minutes to shoot photos. I definitely want to go out again, but I think this time of year is the best because the water is at the right height and the light in the middle of the day has those long autumnal shadows, even though it’s mid-day.
Click the image to see the rest of the shots on flickr. o
Tags: photos
I keep meaning to take a road trip out there. It’s way out in the middle of nowhere, that’s for sure.
It’s a cool piece of sculpture.
Gorgeous shot!
I remember studying that in art school…in fact, it’s one of the few pieces of art I think about almost all the time. So much thought and organization around it, yet it is likely more timeless than anything hanging on the walls of the MoMA.
After 7 years in SLC, I finally visited the Spiral Jetty last May, a couple months before my baby was due. I have the coolest preggo shots ever, taken around the jetty. Did you see the giant rusty buoys? Your pictures are gorgeous – they really capture the surreal setting and beauty of the landscape.
Holy crap, where did all the salt go?
This is what it looked like in May, ‘04:
http://static.flickr.com/9/13636998_f4df77c9d6_b.jpg
It’s like the entire thing was buried in a couple of inches of ice, but instead of ice it was solid salt. Freaky…
The last 15 miles of the drive sucked hard, but it was worth it.
Looks like the lake was lower in 2004.
Erat, having a 4WD Xterra made those last 15 miles a blast.
I’ve always been curious about that; it’s always featured in modern art survey books as representing the Earth Art movement. I am bananas about any kind of public art, and using natural materials as a canvas is a really interesting idea. It seems kind of primal and sacred somehow. Great pics, too.
Smithson hired my father-in-law to build the Jetty back in 1970. We were there last May and it was mostly submerged:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v142/estella7/jettylizards.jpg
Wow!
I never knew about this. That’s really neat. Thanks for the education.
I teach earth art in my art appreciation class and a lot of people resist these kinds of projects for lots of different reasons. I think the biggest problem is that it takes an open mind; plus art, especially earth art, needs to be experienced first hand to be truly appreciated.
Lovely. This reminds me of Andy Goldsworthy’s work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy
More info here:
http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/spiraljetty.htm
Thanks, reader PN.
These photos are gorgeous!!
you have such skill in capturing beauty
So beautiful! I think one of the things I remember most from my childhood is walks to the lake with my dad, and that photo takes me back to those days.