JOHN D. NYSTUEN

Mail to author
nystuen@umich.edu

A recent visit to Campobello Island in Canada, off the coast of the state of Maine, offered an opportunity to view the eastern element of sculptor David Barr's Sunsweep:  an arch (both physical and virtual) that celebrated the U.S./Canadian
border with physical endpieces on Campobello and Point Roberts WA and a physical keystone in Lake of the Woods, MN.  The actual stone elements are linked virtually in the mind along the border as the sun sweeps  from east to west--all are
aligned to astronomical events and access to all requires a border crossing.  Colleagues and I had worked with Barr in a number of ways and that work was written about in an earlier number of Solstice (1991, Number 1;  a direct link to that article).  Indeed, as we noted,

"Sunlight and shadow, day and night, solstice and equinox, lunar and solar
eclipse--all  are  astronomical  events  that  transform  the surface of
the earth into an event focused on  the contrast  between light and dark.
The diurnal dynamics of the sweeping edge of the darkness are a foundation
critical to  the well-being of life on earth.   Artistic expressions are
numerous, ranging from Amish quilt patterns (``sunlight  and  shadow")  to
Indonesian shadow puppets.  From a spatial standpoint, the mantle of night
serves as a continuum linking disparate elements of the earth's surface;
it is a whole composed of unseen parts."

Information about SunSweep may be obtained at the Information Office at the Park Entrance.