Renowned landscape artist and author Nancy Holt put to rest questions of whether her famous Utah piece, "Sun Tunnels," was really for sale this past winter.
It wasn't.
"That was very upsetting. It was like seeing your house for sale," the artist told a small crowd in the Salt Lake City Public Library Saturday afternoon.
Completed in 1976 near Lucin, Box Elder County, "Sun Tunnels" — four concrete pipes arranged in an X pattern to coincide with the summer and winter solstices, with holes cut out to represent four different constellations — turned up for sale on eBay Feb. 10 after a neighboring landowner thought the artwork was built on her property.
Bidding for the item began at $16,500, or it could be bought outright for $35,000, the ad said.
But when Holt, who owns the 40 acres occupied by the pieces, found out about the sale of Item No. 2377935699, she sent eBay a simple sentence: "The ad is fraudulent."
After being promised a response within 24 hours, Holt had no answer after more than four days of waiting.
"The press was my helper in this case," she said. Following coverage of the controversy, first by the Deseret Morning News and then by other local media outlets, Holt was able to contact an eBay executive to clear up the confusion.
Holt ultimately contacted the Box Elder County Recorder's Office, which confirmed Holt owns the land on which the Sun Tunnels sit.
"I don't know yet if the person selling this land knows they don't own it, but you're not even dealing with reality here. You're dealing with delusion," Holt said.
Holt, who lives in New Mexico, is the widow of Robert Smithson, creator of the famous "Spiral Jetty" artwork that coils into the waters of the Great Salt Lake.
Holt was one of more than 20 participants in the 2004 Great Salt Lake Issues Forum Friday and Saturday in the library.
E-mail: abenson@desnews.com