In 1987 Nancy Holt developed several proposals for outdoor sculpture at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (formerly Southeastern Massachusetts University, SMU) that remained unrealized: Time Lines, Solar Crossings, and this sculpture Sun Cuts. Later, in 1991, she realized the sculpture Spinwinder on the campus. Circular structures, cardinal and solar orientations, earth forms, and the marking of astronomical time recur across the three proposals.

Photographs of the model for Sun Cuts show a low, earth-covered mound surmounted by four intersecting vertical planes, forming a cross-shaped structure with openings in four directions. A dark curved line spirals around the mound; it is unclear from the model if this is a path or a marking. The model suggests Holt exploring architectural form and changing sunlight, although the surviving material shown here does not establish the precise solar alignments she intended.

A drawing Holt titled Solar Crossings closely resembles Holt’s photographs of her model for Sun Cuts.