photo of Mel Tanner in 1973 (1925-1993)
painter, sculptor, video artist, performance artist, designer, teacher
“The whole idea behind everything here is to take light and make it into a shape; a shape that not only solidifies the light but the life the light touches.”
* excerpted from interview in The Miami News
Mel Tanner was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1925. After serving in combat overseas in the Army during World War II, he enrolled in art school under the G.I. Bill. He attended Pratt Institute and the Brooklyn Museum Art School under Max Beckmann, John Ferren, and Reuben Tam.
While a student at the Brooklyn Museum, he met Dorothy. They married two years later in 1951, and moved to Syracuse, NY where they opened the Syracuse Art Workshop, teaching painting and sculpture. They also taught an art class for children in the summer at Syracuse University.
In 1963, they returned to New York City and founded an artists’ co-op, Granite Gallery, on East 57th Street. The Granite Art Association organized seminars, forums, and exhibitions. “The New Face in Art” Forum and Exhibition took place at the Loeb Center at New York University. Participants included Louise Nevelson, Red Grooms, Norman Carton, and art writer Gordon Brown.
In 1965, after traveling extensively in Europe, the Tanners established a studio in Miami. Their interest in acrylic glass and its unique light transmitting quality engaged both Dorothy and Mel in experimentation that led to the major component of their art form: light. This collaborative project became their main focus and dedication, utilizing the light sculptures, live projection, video, electronics, and music. The Tanners created Lumonics installations in Miami, San Diego, Bangor, and Fort Lauderdale .
Since Mel Tanner’s passing in 1993, his light sculptures have been exhibited in conjunction with Dorothy’s at the Coral Springs Museum of Art in Coral Springs, FL at “The Art of Healing” Exhibition; ZONES Art Fair at the Edge Zones Art Center in Miami during Art Basel Week; Union Gallery in the Santa Fe Art District, the Museum of Outdoor Arts, Denver International Airport , Union Station, The Scarlet in Central City, CO, the McNichols Civic Center Building, the Thornton Arts and Culture Center, Meow Wolf Denver, and Children’s Hospital Colorado. Many are also exhibited at Tanner Studio/Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery in Denver.
Wikipedia
WikiArt
EDUCATION
• Pratt Institute, New York, NY
• Brooklyn Museum School of Art, Brooklyn, NY
TEACHING
• Syracuse University, Special Education Department
• Syracuse Art Workshop, sculpture instructor
EXHIBITIONS
• Nov 8, 2021 – Jan 20, 2022, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO, Luminaries
• Sept 17, 2020 – Jan 7, 2022, Meow Wolf Denver’s Convergence Street Galleri, Lumonics Art
• Nov 27, 2020 –Jan 30, 2021, Understudy Gallery, Denver, CO, Lumonics Mind Spa: Light Intersection
• June 2, 2020 –Sept. 26, 2020, Thornton Arts and Culture Center, Thornton, CO, Lumonics Mind Spa: Thornton
• Sept 14, 2019 – Feb 21, 2020, 7 Healing Stars, Black Hawk, CO
• Nov 8-Dec 31 The Storeroom, Denver, CO, From the Beginning: A Lumonics Light Art Installation
• Sept 2019 (ongoing) Gilpin Arts, Central City, CO
• May-August 2018 Museum of Outdoor Arts Indoor Gallery, 37 Years of Acquisitions From the MOA Collection, Englewood, CO
• Jan-July 2018 McNichols Civic Center Building,
Lumonics Mind Spa: Stretching the Body, Mind, and Spirit,” Denver, CO
• Jan-March 2017, Museum of Outdoor Arts, Englewood, CO
Then and Now: A Retrospective of Light-Based Sculpture
by Dorothy and Mel Tanner
• August, 2016-May 2017 The Scarlet, Central City, CO, The Lumonics Mind Spa
• Feb-May 2014 Art Gallery at Denver International Airport, A Light Journey
• June 2011-Feb 2012 Museum of Outdoor Arts, Englewood, CO, Light Supply
• Nov 2009 Union Station Fund Raiser, Denver, CO
• Jan-March 2009 Union Gallery, Santa Fe Art District, Denver, CO
• 2007 ZONES Art Fair, Edge Zones Art Center, Miami FL
• 2005 Coral Springs Museum, “The Art of Lumonics”
• 1987 Museum of New Arts, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• 1985-86 Patricia Judith Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
• 1963 New York Univ., Loeb Center, New York, NY
• 1962 Key Gallery, East 57th Street, New York, NY
SPECIAL PROJECTS
• Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery, Denver, CO
• Lumonics Light and Sound Theatre, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Lumonics Performing Art Gallery, Bangor, ME
• Lumonics Installation, San Diego, CA
• Lumonics Light and Sound Theatre, Miami, FL
• Lumonics Mind Spa, The Scarlet, Central City, CO
ADDITIONAL PROJECTS
• WGBH-TV, Boston (sets for Frontline and Nova)
• WBZ-TV, Boston (sets, including world map)
GRANTS
• “Ecology through Art” video production, U.S. Govt.
COMMISSIONS AND INSTALLATIONS
• Sheraton Hotel, La Guardia Airport, New York
• Hilton Hotels, Florida and Grand Bahamas
• Fingers, Caracas, Venezuela (private club)
• The Library, Lexington, KY (nightclub)
• Astro, Sarasota, FL (nightclub)
• Bemelman’s, Miami, FL (restaurant)
• House of Mo-Ko, Miami, FL (executive offices)
• Scandia, Miami, FL (installation)
• Hi-Fi Associates, Miami, FL (installation)
• General Electric, New York, NY
• Raytheon Corporation, New York, NY
COLLECTIONS
• Museum of Outdoor Arts, Englewood, CO
• Meow Wolf
• Friends of The Whitney Museum
• Numerous Private Collections
X Wall Sculpture
59″T x 22″W x 15″D
1969
part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Outdoor Arts
Multi-Directional
Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
1987
16″T x 72″W x 6″D
part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Outdoor Arts
Blinker Wall Sculpture, 1977
Blue Field Wall Sculpture, 1990
Inversion by Mel Tanner, 1982
Paradigm Wall Sculpture, 1976
Directional Wall Sculpture, 1987
Sketches and Finished Art Works:
Mel Tanner, Commercial Installation, Sarasota, FL, 1976
Brooklyn Museum Art School Catalog, 1950-1951
Max Beckmann (foreground), Mel Tanner (far right)
photo courtesy of the Special Library Collections
at The Brooklyn Museum
©1950