Art and astronomy follow the sun

Buildings, sculptures and other structures around the UW are being exploited for their shadow-casting abilities as part of astronomy professor Woody Sullivan's personal mission: to make Seattle the sundial capital of North America. The series, titled Where is Noon?, connects art with science, exploring the cosmos through careful mathematics and artistic figures.

In conjunction with the UW Summer Arts Festival, and in keeping with its theme of spheres, UW students, under the guidance of Sullivan and art professor Rebecca Cummins, have scattered giant sundials and solar markers across campus in investigation of the sun's rhythmic control over light and shadow. In proper sundial tradition, most of the pieces tell current solar time. Some, however, also tell foreign time or multiple times.

Student participants come from a variety of majors, and their sundials reflect the diversity of their backgrounds. Some sundials stand alone as art installations, while others measure the shadows of existing structures on campus. "Make Haste...Slowly" uses the shadows of dancers.

Tours run Wednesday through Saturday, from 1 to 2:15 p.m., starting in Suzzallo 101 for a presentation of the exhibition A Collection of Intimate Sundials and continuing around campus.