Nancy Holt (1938 – 2014) grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Tufts University, where she majored in biology. Holt is known for her earthworks, public sculpture and installation work. Best known for her large-scale environmental works Sun Tunnel (1973–76, Great Basin Desert, Utah) and Dark Star Park (1970–84, Arlington County, Virginia) her public sculptures are permanently installed in locations across Europe and North America.
In 2010-12 the retrospective exhibition Nancy Holt: Sightlines travelled from Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York to venues in Boston, Chicago, Karlsruhe, Salt Lake City, and Santa Fe, accompanied by a monograph by Alena J Williams (University of California Press). Other notable exhibitions include Nancy Holt: Points of View, Parafin, London (2020), Dia Art Foundation, New York (2018); Nancy Holt: Land Art, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2013); and Nancy Holt: Selected Film and Photo Works, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2013). Her work has been included in major survey exhibitions including Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2012-13), and Light Show at Hayward Gallery, London (2013). In 2018 Sun Tunnels and Holes of Light (1973) were acquired by Dia Art Foundation, with the support of Holt/Smithson Foundation.