Charles Ross is the American artist behind STAR AXIS, an “architectonic earth/star sculpture” in the New Mexico desert. The building is both an observatory as well as a sculptural expression of various star alignments in different time scales built into sculptural form. Walking through its chambers you can see how star space relates to human scale and how the space of the stars reaches down into the earth. Ross conceived of STAR AXIS in 1971 and began building it in 1976 after a 4-year search through the southwest to find the perfect site—a mesa where one stands at the boundary between earth and sky. He’s now finishing STAR AXIS with a crew of local stonemasons. It’s made with granite, sandstone, bronze, stainless steel, and earth. When completed, STAR AXIS will be eleven stories high and a fifth of a mile across. For more information be sure to visit the artist’s website at CharlesRossStudio.com, or the website of STAR AXIS at STARAXIS.org.
