As Lumonics enters its 56th year, we are posting archival quotes from over ther years:
“A Lumonics show is a mesmerizing melding of light, rhythmic movement, and sound…a kind of Disneyland for the senses. But in spite of the abstract nature of the presentation and the almost intimidating force of the music and movement, it’s a completely opposite effect that gently envelops the viewer…in an exhilarating paradox you feel very relaxed and comforted by the glowing flashing images and the invigorating music.”
“Somehow the futuristic, out-of-space technology and designs don’t really frighten us…they merely escort us out of our mundane perceptions and usher us into some exciting fresh ones. The new images force us away from systematic definitions…we just draw large, easy breaths, sit back and spend a very comfortable few hours of merely sensing and seeing.”
– Ed Rice, The Weekly Journal, “A Review of Lumonics: A Far Out Place,” Nov. 4, 1981
“If inner space is the last frontier, then Mel and Dorothy Tanner are its pioneers. They create an aesthetic experience unlike any other. A walk through the Lumonics Gallery is a bit like a tour of some futuristic spaceship. The sculptures blink, drip, turn and glow. Like the Wizard of Oz behind a curtain, they create a separate reality.”
– Barbara Marshall, Broward Close-up, Channel 2 (WPBT Public TV), 1987
“The experience defies verbal description, but suffice it to say anyone who enjoys exploring the hidden caverns of consciousness, any interested in the limits of laser technology, any cyberpunk, or any dedicated tripper must pay the Tanners’ theatre a visit.”
– Roberta Morgan, theatre critic, New Times-Miami, “Play Tripper,” June 30, 1993
“As much as I relish the whole performance aspect of Lumonics, I welcome anything that expands the audience for the individual artworks in all their marvelous diversity. The art of Lumonics is first and foremost an experiential art. That’s only as it should be.”
– Michael Mills, art writer, New Times Broward-Palm Beach
excerpted from introduction to Art of Lumonics, (Coral Springs Museum), Coral Springs, FL, March 4, 2005
“Bronx-born nonagenarian Dorothy Tanner and her late husband, Mel Tanner, began building Plexiglas light sculptures in the hip ’60s, but the two were always more than sculptors. Rather, their life’s work was a spiritually driven multimedia gestalt of music, motion and mind-blowing visuals they dubbed Lumonics. Since Mel’s death in 1993, Dorothy has continued to carry the Lumonics torch, relocating her studio to Denver in 2008.”
– Susan Froyd, Denver Westword, “100 Colorado Creatives 3.0: Dorothy Tanner,” Jan.11, 2017
“Imagine walking into another ‘civilization’ where verbal communication is kept limited and visual and audio communications are allowed to roam freely. This idea has come to life at Lumonics.”
– Mike Felberbaum, The Chariot, Taravella High School, Coral Springs, FL, Dec. 1995
“Difficult to describe, beautiful and unusual, the Lumonics Light and Sound Theatre is hard to compare or judge, comprehend even, because it has no peers. It is different, something unto itself, and not entirely of this world. That, in an eggshell, is what people are saying about Lumonics. I say “in an eggshell” because your experience at Lumonics likely will shatter any conceptions you might have, either from what your friends have told you, or what you might read here. Your own experience will be unique.”
– Ken Plutnicki, The Miami Herald, “Light Show a Theatre of the Mind,” 1989
“Think of Dorothy and Mel Tanner as modern-day Timothy Learys, minus the drugs. Their sound-and light-filled habitat, a Disneyland for the brain, is the only mind-altering substance they offer. Drop in, tune out, and turn on. The Tanners will take you to anywhere your brain desires.”
-Tracie Cone, The Miami Herald, “Lumonics—A Trip to the Unknown,” May 3, 1992
(Tracy Cone is a Pulitzer Prize recipient)
“The space is a warehouse-style building, hardly a spiritual setting for an experience that has moved so many. In this space, doctors have sought refuge for terminal patients; alcoholics and drug addicts have drawn strength to battle their vices. Some have seen deceased family members through the avalanche of color and form, others fall into a deep meditative space, and still others come simply for celebration.”
– Dave Warm, City Link Magazine, Fort Lauderdale, FL
“The eye-dazzling yet somehow relaxing Lumonics Then & Now: A Retrospective of Light-Based Sculpture by Dorothy & Mel Tanner transforms the interior galleries of the Museum of Outdoor Arts into a world of their own. The spotlights have been dimmed so that the exhibit’s internally lighted transparent acrylic sculptures and wall panels, as well as its projected videos, can glow gently in the near-darkness. A soft electronic soundtrack composed by Dorothy Tanner and her longtime collaborator, Marc Billard, adds yet another soothing aspect to the exhibit. The MOA exhibit represents the first-ever retrospective anywhere for both Lumonics and Dorothy and Mel Tanner, and it is spectacular.”
– Michael Paglia, Westword, “Review: Lumonics Then & Now Shines at Museum of Outdoor Arts,” Feb. 15, 2017
It takes a few moments to grasp the beauty that surrounds you. Leave everything that you carry with you at the door; your uncertainty, your day of working that 9 to 5 job, because you have now entered into the serenity and positive light that is the artwork of a true legend.”
– Wendy L. Pitton R., Artbeat Magazine, “Worth the Wait – A Journey of Light with Dorothy Tanner,” Aug 05, 2016
