Media Release

Lawrence, KS, January 7, 2014 – James Turrell’s art and ideas have captivated artists, scientists, and thought-leaders for decades; his recent three-museum career retrospective at the Guggenheim, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston has ignited a fascination more passionate and pervasive than ever, bringing the artist and his innovations to the forefront of public discourse.

The Spencer Museum exhibition James Turrell: Gard Blue has inspired major speaking engagements with noteworthy figures on an international scale. These programs are scheduled to take place throughout spring 2014:

March 6
Richard Andrews
A View from the Eye of the Crater
7 pm

March 26
Lawrence Weschler
Art and Science as Parallel and Divergent Ways of Knowing
7 pm

April 16
Suzanne Deal Booth
Stepping into the Light—Shared Experiences with James Turrellb 5:30 pm

Richard Andrews serves as Director of the Skystone Foundation, the organization that works directly with James Turrell to realize his goal of turning a 400,000 year-old crater into a monumental work of art and naked-eye observatory. Roden Crater—located near Flagstaff, Arizona—is an extinct volcanic cone; the artist purchased it in 1977, and construction began in 1979. Andrews will deliver a lecture on the evening of March 6 titled A View from the Eye of the Crater. This title is derived from Turrell’s comment that “Roden Crater has knowledge in it and it does something with that knowledge. Environmental events occur; a space lights up. Something happens in there, for a moment, or for a time. It is an eye, something that is itself perceiving.” During his speaking engagement, Andrews will describe how Roden Crater emerged from Turrell’s early explorations of light and space. He will also discuss the evolution of Turrell’s vision over the course of three decades, visitor experiences in completed spaces within the crater, and the path toward completion. Andrews will speak at 7 pm.

Longtime New Yorker writer Lawrence Weschler—Emeritus Director of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University and author of Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder and Everything that Rises: A Book of Convergences—is one of the country’s foremost art theorists. Having written extensively about Robert Irwin, one of Turrell’s collaborators in the late-1960s Art and Technology program, Weschler will speak more generally about Art and Science as Parallel and Divergent Ways of Knowing on March 26 at 7 pm. This talk explores the perception of art and science as distinct approaches to probing the world, revealing that this perception is relatively new. This lecture was originally developed for a conference sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

On April 16, art historian, conservator and collector Suzanne Deal Booth presents Stepping into the Light—Shared Experiences with James Turrell. This event provides a unique opportunity to hear about firsthand encounters, both personal and professional, with the artist. Deal Booth has worked at the Kimbell Art Museum, the Menil Collection and the J. Paul Getty Trust, among others. Her talk begins at 5:30 pm.