From the big, red “For Handel” landmark near the Performing Arts Center, to “The Man Who Used to Hunt Cougars for Bounty” outside Wilson Library, Western Washington University is host to a variety of sculptures around campus.
“Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings,” designed by the late Nancy Holt, was added to the sculpture garden in 1978.
When Holt first visited Western she fell in love with the Northwest’s unique landscape. She teamed up with a stonemason from Ferndale, Al Poynter, to create “Stone Enclosure.”
The sculpture is inspired by Stonehenge and the amphitheaters of the Roman Empire. It is located behind Academic Institution Center East.
“Stone Enclosure” consists of two circles, a smaller circle enclosed within a bigger circle with windows cut through the walls. Holt aligned the sculpture with the North Star to take advantage of Bellingham’s limited sunshine.
In a lecture at Western, Holt said, “it was an important work for me. It was something that I felt I needed to get out that was in me, and I had a very strong need to make that work.”
Holt died in 2014.
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CDN thanks Western Washington University professor John Harris for submitting student work from his newswriting class.
