Which American artist created the earthwork 'Spiral Jetty'?

Robert Smithson created the earthwork “Spiral Jetty” on Utah’s Great Salt Lake in 1970.

The monumental work is a counterclockwise coil extending from Rozel Point into the lake. Smithson used basalt rock, earth, mud, and salt crystals, creating a piece whose appearance changes with water levels, sunlight, and the lake’s mineral deposits. When the lake recedes, the jetty becomes clearly visible; when water rises, it can disappear almost completely.

“Spiral Jetty” is a landmark of land art, a movement that shifted sculpture away from galleries and into the landscape itself. Smithson also made a 32-minute color film documenting the construction and connecting the work to geological time, erosion, and the earth’s history.

A common mix-up is confusing Smithson with Christo, Walter De Maria, or Andy Goldsworthy. Those artists also worked with large-scale or natural materials, but “Spiral Jetty” is specifically Smithson’s work. The Dia Art Foundation has owned the site since 1999.