a constellation of the big dipper made of fire pits

Nancy Holt's Starfire acquired by Powder Art Foundation

We are very pleased to share that Nancy Holt’s 1986 sculpture Starfire has found a permanent home in the collection of Powder Art Foundation in Eden, Utah. Powder Art Foundation is an outdoor art museum that works closely with Dia Art Foundation, stewards of both Holt’s Sun Tunnels (1973-76) and Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970).

Starfire comprises eight ground-level fire pits arranged to mirror the Big Dipper constellation and the North Star. When lit in the hours before and after sundown, the flames create a terrestrial map of the night sky, bringing the energy of distant stars down to earth. Between ignitions, the circles mark the fires to come. This alignment invites viewers to contemplate the connection between the cosmos and our immediate environment, grounding the vastness of the night sky in tangible, human-scale form.

Our research on Starfire began in 2022, working with Ballroom Marfa in Texas to present the site-responsive sculpture for the first time posthumously in the exhibition Ecstatic Land. Research is central to all we do at Holt/Smithson Foundation. Developing knowledge around Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson’s artworks is part of our daily practice. For the artists’ complex site-responsive works, we look to Holt and Smithson’s writings, drawings, archives, and exhibition histories to establish clear protocols, which are then tested through presentation in exhibitions. Once a clear set of parameters is established, artworks are ready to leave our collection. As a sunsetting foundation, we ensure that each work is carefully stewarded as it leaves our collection to support its sustained legacy.

Nancy Holt, Starfire (1986)
Installation view: Powder Mountain, Utah, 2025
Steel, earth, fire
Overall dimensions: 2 x 30 x 30 ft. (69 x 911 x 911 cm)
Fire pit diameters: two 24 in. (69 cm); five 20 in. (50.8 cm); one 17 in. (43.2 cm)
Fire pit depth: 24 in. (30.5 cm)
Photograph: Carlson / Powder Art Foundation, 2025
Collection Powder Art Foundation

Archived News

a notebook showing calculations for Sun Tunnels

Nancy Holt’s Project Files Digitized at the Archives of American Art

The papers of Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson are held at the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art. This series documents more than 50 projects developed by Holt from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, offering insights into her working processes and the development of her ideas from initial conception through to completion.

poster for Smithson's film Spiral Jetty 1970 cropped

Soft Network Benefit Auction

We are pleased to participate in the Soft Network Benefit Auction, open on Artsy from September 23 until October 7, 2026. The auction brings together works in support of Soft Network and the Artist Foundations and Estate Leaders List (AFELL), an international network for artists and stewards of artists’ estates and legacies. Holt/Smithson Foundation has donated two rare works of art by Nancy Holt and Robert Smithson to the auction to help further this goal.