May 03

Lumonics Legacy Project Aims to Keep Immersive Pioneers’ Vision Alive by Teague Bohlen, Westword

 

Lumonics Gallery and Performance Space on 73rd and Washington…for now.  Photo by Marc Billard

Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery has been around for decades, ever since artists Mel and Dorothy Tanner started working with light sculptures and sound to create immersive experiences back in 1969. Dubbed “Lumonics,” the unique art form was conceived to engage multiple senses — primarily sight and sound — simultaneously, providing audiences a deeper connection to the work and the world around it.

Barry Raphael and Marc Billard became part of the Lumonics artist collective in 1972, when they separately encountered what the Tanners were already deeply into. “It started for me when I walked into the Tanners’ gallery in Miami,” recalls Raphael, who was the first to join the collective. “I was a language arts teacher in Chicago at the time, and a friend of mine was splitting his time between Chicago and working down at Dade Community College. He told me about it, and I went. It was like the ultimate field trip for me. It was an amazing moment, seeing the theater the Tanners had set up and everything in it. My friend was thinking of trying to move it back up to Chicago, but that never happened. I never set out to move to Miami, but it’s just the way it happened. The experience had mesmerized me.”

“And I was working construction at the time in South Florida,” adds Billard. Mel Tanner’s sister was his neighbor at the time, and she’d told him he should go and check it out. It took him about a year to do so, but when he did, Billard says his reaction was remarkable. “Oh, my God,” he says. “I was speechless.” Mel asked him if he wanted to do some work with him. That was the beginning of Billard (along with his wife, Barbara, who passed away in the summer of 2023) working with the Lumonics collective, building many of the pieces from then on.

“It was Marc’s arrival and all his wonderful work that was really the first expansion point back then,” Raphael says. “He was able to create larger pieces with more detail, and that’s what Mel [Tanner] was working for.”

Mel was working with simple shapes before,” says Billard. “When I came in and got my fingers in it, it was able to become very different. Wall pieces and sculptures. New designs. It changed.”

 

Barry Raphael and Marc Billard have helped represent Lumonics for over fifty years

They brought the Tanners’ artistic legacy to Denver in 2008, where it’s resided ever since, and Raphael and Billard are working to ensure that the exhibitions survive and thrive for many years to come. They still put on immersive shows every Saturday night at the Lumonics Light and Sound Gallery, 800 East 73rd Avenue; tickets are still only $25, are limited to a small, intimate group only, and include refreshments as well as illumination. Tickets for that event and several others are available through Eventbrite.

But in terms of the future of the project, Raphael and Billard have started the Lumonics Legacy Project. They hope to raise $30,000 in order to preserve more than 200 Tanner light sculptures, as well as the Lumonics archives, which include collages, sketchbooks, hand-painted 35-millimeter slides, original projector tray paintings, preserved media articles, photographs and an expanding library of music visuals. In addition to raising money for creating a sustainable legacy and future, the crowdfunding effort plans to establish a Friends of Lumonics nonprofit, which will support partnerships to share Lumonics with the world.

“We’re in our seventies now,” smiles Raphael, “and are deeply committed to seeing this work remain accessible for future generations. What was once a collective of seven is down to just us two, but we have friends who’ve volunteered to help us create this Legacy Project.”

Specifically, Raphael hopes that the project will allow Lumonics to bring more than 100 pieces out of storage and work on restoring them, with more environmentally sound and long-lasting LED technologies, while still keeping within Mel and Dorothy Tanner’s original vision.

Raphael says that the final step of the Legacy Project would be for the whole collection and gallery to move one more time.

 

Nov 11

How we Create the Visuals and Music at Lumonics Immersed

The source material for the visuals come from an archive of imagery that began in 1968 and continues to this day in our performances of Lumonics Immersed.

1. Hand-painted 35 mm slides by Dorothy and Mel Tanner, a process that began in 1968 and ended upon Mel’s death in 1993. Hundreds of these slides are in our archives and have been digitized. Here are some examples:

 

 

2. Lumonics video productions from 1978 until present that included the late Dorothy Tanner, Mel Tanner, and engineer John Hall, and Marc Billard who continues the productions at Lumonics Immersed and orchestrates the Lumonics Light Orchestra live.


3. Colorado car rides and hikes, from urban to rural areas, which Marc Billard records and produces. Mountains, streams, forests, streets and roads are the source material. Marc then transforms the imagery in production, and adds an original soundtrack. We think of the finished productions as “alchemized nature films”. No AI is involved!

The photos below are examples of some of the source material.

 

 

The music is a collaboration of Dorothy Tanner and Marc Billard (Tanner/Billard) that began in 1994 and ended upon Dorothy’s passing in 2020. Marc continues to produce music for Lumonics Immersed. The music is produced using samples, keyboards, and also can include some of Dorothy’s spoken word we call Cosmic Rap.

 

Nov 03

Swarlaya: A Fusion of Sitar, Sarod, Tabla, & Electronic Drums

 

Sunday, Nov 9, 2025
7 pm

Swarlaya: A Fusion of Sitar, Sarod, Tabla, & Electronic Drums

 

We welcome you for an evening featuring the music of Swarnendu Mandel (sarod), Bijay Shrestha (tabla, sitar) and Gilly Gonzalez (percussion and electronic synth).

It all takes place in the Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery, known for its ambience of original light sculptures and acoustics. Lumonics has been the recipient of several “Best Of” Awards by Westword Magazine.
$30 advance tickets
$40 at door

Bios and Photos Available on the Event Page

 

Oct 25

“Stained Grass” at Standley Lake in Westminster, CO

The photos below are  examples of some of the source material we use at Lumonics Immersed. They are still images from our projection. It begins with making videos while on our rides and hikes in Colorado: mountains, streams, forests, and roads. We then transform the imagery in production, and add an original soundtrack. We think of it as “alchemized nature films”. No AI is involved!

These photos of grasslands are stills from video we took at Standley Lake in Westminster, CO and “alchemized”. We call the photos “stained grass”, and will be in included in one of our video productions shown at Lumonics Immersed.

Oct 20

“Alchemized Nature Films” at Lumonics

The photos below are  examples of some of the source material we use at Lumonics Immersed. They are still images from our projection. It begins with making videos while on our rides and hikes in Colorado: mountains, streams, forests, and roads. We then transform the imagery in production, and add an original soundtrack. We think of it as “alchemized nature films”. No AI is involved!