UTAH – September 30, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – Utah art museum UMFA and Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College are organizing a day-of art and science at the Spiral Jetty. The trip will take place on Saturday, October 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is free.
UMFA members, families, teachers and students of all ages are invited to explore the landscape, create art, and learn about the environment of the lake.
UMFA said on their webpage about the Land art piece: “The monumental earthwork Spiral Jetty (1970) was created by artist Robert Smithson and is located off Rozel Point in the north arm of Great Salt Lake. Made of black basalt rocks and earth gathered from the site, Spiral Jetty is a 15-foot-wide coil that stretches more than 1,500 feet into the lake. Undoubtedly the most famous large-scale earthwork of the period, it has come to epitomize Land art. Its exceptional art historical importance and its unique beauty have drawn visitors and media attention from throughout Utah and around the world.
“Rozel Point attracted Smithson for a number of reasons, including its remote location and the reddish quality of the water in that section of the lake (an effect of algae). Using natural materials from the site, Smithson designed Spiral Jetty to extend into the lake several inches above the waterline. However, the earthwork is affected by seasonal fluctuations in the lake level, which can alternately submerge the Jetty or leave it completely exposed and covered in salt crystals.”
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts works in collaboration with the Dia Art Foundation, the steward of the Spiral Jetty, and Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College to preserve, maintain, and advocate for this masterpiece of late twentieth-century art and acclaimed Utah landmark.
For directions to the spiral jetty click here. The meeting place on Saturday will be the Spiral Jetty on Rozel Point in the Great Salt Lake.
