What is Spiral Jetty, and what can it tell us about Great Salt Lake?

SALT LAKE CITY — It was once surrounded by the salty waters of Great Salt Lake, but Spiral Jetty currently sits on the sand. It’s exposed by a receding waterline, hundreds of feet away. 

The earthwork was completed in 1970 by artist Robert Smithson. It’s at Rozel Point, a location many regard as remote since the nearest town is Corinne, 41.2 miles away. 

According to the Museum of Modern Art, an earthwork is a piece of art made from reshaping land or making formations with natural material. They were common in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Smithson’s interest in Utah’s Great Salt Lake

According to Lisa Le Feuvre, the executive director of the Holt Smithson Foundation, which works to preserve the legacies of its namesake artists, Smithson had been reading about lakes in Bolivia that had a red hue. 

In a 1972 essay, Smithson explained that his interest in salt lakes began when he was working on Mono Lake, a project that captured a trip to California’s Mono Lake using Super-8 film and Instamatic slides. The Holt Smithson Foundation said he had been working with Nancy Holt, his wife, and Michael Heizer, another artist. 

After the trip, Smithson read a book about Bolivian salt lakes, with waters that have a rosy pink hue. 

He later learned Great Salt Lake’s north arm had a similar quality. 

“Travel was much more complicated than it is now,” said Le Feuvre. Smithson was living in New York City. 

The north arm’s rosy hue is caused by algae and halophiles, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife. Contrastingly, the south arm is a greenish blue. The vibrant contrasting colors appeared after the causeway was built in the 1950s. 

According to Le Feuvre, the lake’s color was only one reason Smithson was drawn to the site. He was also interested in the impact human culture has on the environment. 

“For Smithson, his artwork was always very critical of the impact that we human beings have on the world that surrounds us,” said Le Feuvre. 

Additionally, Le Feuvre said that Smithson wanted to encourage people to visit natural sites, like Great Salt Lake.

“Smithson wanted us to be aware that the surface of our planet was first shaped by geological history and then secondly by human history,” said Le Feuvre. 

Building Spiral Jetty

When Smithson began building Spiral Jetty, he used materials that were already at the site. According to Le Feuvre, he did not want to disrupt nature. 

“He was much more interested in demonstrating how … our very existence disrupted nature,” said Le Feuvre. “He was also really interested in underlining that we human beings are nature.” 

The 15-foot-wide, 1,500-foot-long coil is made of black basalt rocks. The same rocks can be found on the bench above the earthwork. 

Le Feuvre explained that Spiral Jetty is more than an earthwork. Smithson also made a film and wrote an essay, both with the same title. 

What can it tell us about Great Salt Lake? 

Le Feuvre referred to Spiral Jetty as a “barometer” for the natural world. 

“If we think about the Great Salt Lake, it’s a location where we can feel, we can see the impact of the climate emergency, of overpopulation, of the use of natural resources.” 

Since it was built in 1970, the jetty and the lake have interacted in numerous ways. At times, lake levels rise so high that they covered the earthwork. The lake’s water levels have also dropped so far that the water’s edge is hundreds of feet away from the spiral. 

At times, the water has risen just enough to fill the jetty, swirling around the spiral. Photographs published on the Holt Smithson Foundation website depict the water’s interactions with Spiral Jetty over the last 55 years. 

“When I say [Spiral Jetty] is disappearing, it’s really doing that on two scales. First, literally because the waters of the lake are changing, because the surface of our planet is desiccating,” said Le Feuvre. “Then there’s something else that’s much more micro. Sometimes people go to the Spiral Jetty and they take a stone … because it’s such a special place and they want to have a piece for themselves.” 

Experiencing and preserving Spiral Jetty

The New York City-based Dia Art Foundation currently owns Spiral Jetty. They ask visitors to practice “Leave No Trace” principles by leaving all stones where they are, refraining from building fire pits or trampling vegetation, and cleaning up any trash. 

Le Feuvre echoed their requests, saying the work needs to remain as long as possible. 

“If we take something for ourselves … we’re taking something away from everybody else.” 

Instead, she encourages visitors to take photos of the earthwork. 

“The photographs, in a way, make this artwork mobile,” said Le Feuvre. “They distribute it beyond the site.” 

As the photos are distributed, they show people the beauty of the earthwork and its surroundings. 

“Sometimes seeing an image enables us to dream about somewhere we’ve never been,” said Le Feuvre. “Then, step by step, we have a chance to go there.” 

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