Andy Goldsworthy, Snow Circles, Izumi, Japan, 1987

A soothing sculpture by the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, known for his transient, site-specific interventions using only natural matter. In this case, the land artist used a stick to carve circles into a block of snow, perched against a conical snow plinth—to beautiful effect—while visiting Izumi, Japan. Goldsworthy has often made use of snow and ice over the course of his career. In fact, in 1989, two years after this artwork was created, he travelled to the North Pole, where he crafted four vast snow rings that marked the pole’s exact position.