Communities

A briny time capsule

Lolly Merrell Nov. 25, 2002 From the print edition
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  • SALT ART: This summer's drought laid bare "The Spiral Jetty"

    Francisco Kjolseth, The Salt Lake Tribune
  In 1970, when artist Robert Smithson constructed his 1,500-ft-long spiral-shaped sculpture in the Great Salt Lake, he planned for the natural rise and fall of the water to deposit salt crystals on its black stone base. But "The Spiral Jetty," which used more than 6,650 tons of basalt, disappeared entirely in 1972, submerged in the swollen lake. This summer, a severe drought lowered the Great Salt Lake by several feet, revealing the now salt-encrusted sculpture for the first time in 30 years. The metamorphosis of "Spiral Jetty" was just as Smithson, who died in a plane crash in 1973, had envisioned. The sculpture is "curated" by the Dia Art Foundation, and tours are directed by the National Park Service. Visit www.nps.gov/gosp/tour/jetty.html for more information.
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