Powder Art Foundation Brings Land Art to a Former Ski Resort in Utah

In 1968, Nancy Holt, a trailblazer in land art, made her first trip to the American West and instantly connected with its desert terrain. She later discovered a flat desert area surrounded by low mountains in northwestern Utah, where she crafted her renowned installation, Sun Tunnels (1973–76). This artwork features four concrete cylinders, each 18 feet long, designed to align with the sunrise and sunset during solstices. Holt expressed in 1977 her desire to scale down the desert's vastness to a human level. During the 1960s and ’70s, artists such as Holt, Robert Smithson, and Michael Heizer explored remote landscapes, shifting focus from urban settings. Meanwhile, modern sculpture parks emerged, with Storm King Art Center, established in 1960 in New York’s Hudson Valley, leading the way. In the years that followed, places like Naoshima Island in Japan and Inhotim in Brazil drew art enthusiasts into natural settings. Now, the Powder Art Foundation (PAF), founded in 2024, is revitalizing this legacy by converting a former ski resort into a sculpture park that embodies the essence of land art for a new generation.