James Turell

Last week my new lighting design professor, Traci Klainer, took a few minutes to look over my portfolio. While she was there she observed an image that triggered a memory of work she had seen before. She immediately made a note to herself to send me a few links of some guys work. Below is the image she saw on my portfolio.


Dance Works 2006. Choreographed by Erlyne Whiteman

Here are the images I found of this wonderful artist's work. I would love to meet James Turrell, if for nothing else than to have a beer with a man that was able to take one of the most painful lights to look at or sit in a room with, and turn that source into something truly wonderful. I should say he and one of his compatriots Dan Flavin (who by the way actually inspired my work). Many great thanks to Traci for bringing me back to this memory, and many more great thanks to Darcy Scanlin for turning me on to him!

Here are my images and a little something about why I was attracted to these specific images. Also, I always like to associate what I am seeing with a production I am working on. So these images have really inspired what I would like to do in a few very specific moments for our UMass production of Burial At Thebes.


What if the lighting sucked out all the color in the set...is it possible...or would the set have to be mute...I wish I could take out the color sometimes just for a moment to emphasize a specific sensibility of stale, bare, empty, dead...


I can see creating some kind of box or portal in the Burial at Thebes set with Flourescent light under or in an opening.


This is very exciting, and getting closer to what I might be able to accomplish with a single 4 foot long flourescent light.

This last image is not by James Turrell, but I think it is exciting, so here you go...


I love this because of its forced perspective, its strangeness, and the repeated casting of its shadow onto the dingy, dismal walls.