Ritual / Solstice (5 x 12 ft; above) is a transformation of Stone Time Line, photodocumentation of an outdoor installation (14 x 11 in; below).

In the 1980′s I was represented by Fiterman Fine Arts in Minneapolis where I had individual art exhibits. The director of the gallery, Dolly Fiterman, purchased several of my pieces for her collection of contemporary art, which included Warhol, Lichtenstein and many works by Rauschenberg. Recently, she invited art curators from St. Thomas University in Minneapolis, to pick out pieces to add to their permanent collection. They chose two of my works, including Stone Time Line!

This installation was done in Grise Fiord, Ellesmere Island, in the high Canadian Arctic. This is the most northerly civilian settlement, and the most northerly of the Canadian islands. At high noon, on the Summer Solstice, in 1980, I placed seven stones, each one at the end of the shadow cast by the previous one. Hence the name, Stone Time Line.

When I asked the curator why she chose my pieces, she stated that the visual elements were exceptional, as was the philosophic content.

Transformations of this piece have been the visual basis for subsequent art works: Creative Thoughts / Tango and Ritual / Solstice (both are now also in the collection of St. Thomas University).