By Linda Schreiber

During Open Gardens Weekend on June 27-28, visitors were treated to the debut of “Lunar Horizon,” a new sculpture created by Nick Goergen.

The local artist volunteers at Project GREEN Gardens, helping the site continue to grow as a destination for art, nature, and community. 

The 8-foot patinated steel moon gate marks a passage between the natural and spiritual worlds. Moon gates are traditional elements of Chinese and Japanese architecture, where the circular opening symbolizes the full moon, completeness, eternity, and the heavens.

As Goergen, 32, explains it, the view bridges terrestrial and celestial realms.

_{Images (left to right): Artist Nick Goergen stands at the center of his moon gate structure, “Lunar Horizon,” in Project GREEN Gardens on the grounds of the historic Ashton House in Iowa City. The moon gate sculpture, “Lunar Horizon,” debuted in late June 2026 in Project GREEN Gardens during Open Gardens Weekend. The steel sculpture is the first part of an installation that will include limestone benches and cairns.  (Photos/Linda Schreiber)}

The sculpture’s placement creates a visual connection between the gardens and the Iowa River Trail. Looking through the moon gate from the gardens frames the trail and surrounding landscape, while the reverse view from the trail highlights both the gardens and historic mid-century Ashton House.

“The moon gate, measuring eight feet in diameter, forms a perfect circle to frame nature, the gardens, and the historic home,” Goergen says.

An Arizona native with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State, Goergen taught metal sculpture for three years at the University of Iowa while working on his Master of Fine Arts degree, which he completed this spring. (He earned his MA in Art at UI in 2025.) After fabricating and welding the sculpture in the university’s art school studio, he worked with three student colleagues to install it on a concrete base set one foot into the ground. A protective metal sealer has been applied, and the final patina will complement the finish on the newly installed bird blind.

Goergen’s MFA exhibition, “A Lived Naturism,” reflected three years of artistic exploration using materials he grows, forages, and processes himself. Many of those materials came from Project GREEN Gardens, where he volunteered while quietly integrating his artistic practice with the rhythms of the natural landscape.

The installation was made possible through a $4,000 matching grant awarded to Project GREEN by the City of Iowa City.