Mark Klett: Artist shows new views from the top of Tempe

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in ASU Thrive’s special photography issue, celebrating a day in the life of inspiring people across the ASU community. 

Hohokam people have cherished the high point now known as Hayden Butte for generations. Also known as “A” Mountain, the vantage point has been a recurring spot for artist Mark Klett, a Regents Professor at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and a Distinguished Global Futures Scholar at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. Sourcing a historical image as a reference point, he has made new photos to capture the view in progressive works. 

Klett is a founder of the Rephotographic Survey Project, and has worked on a several other rephotography projects in the past three decades, including the Third View, Yosemite in Time, After the Ruins (San Francisco) and Reconstructing the View (Grand Canyon). Before turning to photography he worked as a geologist. This past May, he retired from ASU after 40 years to pursue his art full-time.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress

A growing campus 

1. Sun Devil Stadium. 2. Manzanita. 3. University Towers. 4. Veterans Way/College Avenue light rail station. 5. Design North. 6. Tempe City Hall. 7. West Sixth. 8. Tempe Mission Palms. 9. Tempe Center for the Arts. 10. Hayden Flour Mill. Photos by Mark Klett.

A new skyline emerges

1. University House Tempe. 2 College Avenue Commons. 3. New residential buildings. 4. The Local, Whole Foods Market. 5. The Beam on Farmer. 6. 222 S. Mill Avenue. 7. 100 S. Mill Avenue. 8. Hayden Ferry Lakeside. Photos by Mark Klett.