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.

 

Jul 02

Lumonics Video Selected for the Digerati Experimental Media Festival

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lumonics’ Marc Billard’s video, Mountain Meditation 2, has been accepted in the Digerati Experimental Media Festival.
 
“Out of over 1700 submissions from 136 countries, your work truly stood out.”
 
Mountain Meditation 2 will be playing on the large LED screen located at 16th and Arapahoe in Downtown Denver. We will keep you posted when the screening dates are announced.
 
In honor of its acceptance, we will be including this video in our upcoming immersives on Fridays and Saturdays.
 
Here are some still images from Mountain Meditation 2:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
+
 
 

 

 Marc Billard

Mountain Meditation 3


Current Exhibition

Exhibition: Tilting West: Defining A New Legacy
Venue: Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
Dates: June 3 – August 23, 2026
 

“Contemporary regional artists—whether or not they identify as Western artists—were invited to explore and reinterpret the American Western genre through a contemporary lens. Tilting West challenges traditional notions of Western art, encouraging work that reflects diverse perspectives, materials, and themes, from environmental concerns to social commentary. Artists working in unconventional forms or conceptual approaches were especially encouraged to apply.”

 
History: Played at Lumonics Immersed
 

“The source material is Colorado car rides and hikes in the mountains, which I record using a mobile phone camera and/or Insta360 camera attached to the car window or mounted on the roof. I then transform the imagery in production, and add my original soundtrack. No AI!” 
– Marc Billard

 

How We Create the Music and Visuals at Lumonics Immersed

 

 

Jul 01

Light and Sound Meditations

Light Sculptures by Dorothy and Mel Tanner
Zoom (30 Seconds) and Music by Lumonics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 18

From Sketch to Completion

Mel Tanner holding his glasses

photo of Mel Tanner in 1973 (1925-1993)

 

Mel Tanner (1925-1993) had many sketchbooks which we archive. He would often create several sketches until he decided which one to settle on and begin construction. He  would also use colored pencils as seen below.

This was in contrast to Dorothy Tanner who rarely drew. She was a hands-on person who liked to have a lot of material around to “play with.”

Here are some examples of the Mel Tanner drawings and the completed art works:

Sketches and Finished Art Works:

  sketch of free-standing sculpture of Mel Tanner with several bubbles   Free-standing sculpture with bubble on top and two pyramids facing each other

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 sketch of free-standing sculpture with pyramid on top    Free-standing sculpture with pyramid on top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    free-standing sculpture with section of blue in the center

 

 

 

 

 

 sketch of free-standing sculpture    modular light sculpture

 

 

 

 

 

 sketch of wall sculpture of Mel Tanner in three sections   wall sculpture of Mel Tanner in three sections

 

 

 

 

 

Mel Tanner creating shapes on an easel   lighted ceiling and wall that reflect off each other. The wall has a large colorful shape

Mel Tanner, Commercial Installation, Sarasota, FL, 1976

 

 

 

Art teacher Max Beckmann making suggestion to studio

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

 

May 17

What’s Lumonics?

 

 

1.   Field Trips and Guided Tours for students of all ages of all ages

   
 
 
– From kindergarteners to seniors in assisted living (we are community partners with the Denver Public Schools Foundation) 
– For the developmentally challenged (we are community partners with Sample Supports)
– For people seeking a substance-free and sober experience (we are community partners with The Phoenix)
– For companies and organizations
 

2. Award-winning Lumonics Immersed on Fridays and Saturdays that originated in 1969 and continues to evolve, intended to energize and inspire attendees. 
 
 
 
 
3. Rental of Lumonics for private and public events
 
 
4. Lumonics Mind Spas that foster a state of relaxation and creativity:
For temporary or permanent private or public spaces. We welcome museum administrators, city planners, art consultants, architects, designers, and individuals to inquire. 
 
 
 
5. Art Classes at the Lumonics School of Light Art (students have ranged in age from 8 to 85, so far). We recommend the 6-hour class on a Sunday in which you take home your “artified” lighted cube. 
 
 
 


6.  Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery
The Gallery displays 75 light sculpture from a rotating collection of over 200 artworks by the late Dorothy and Mel Tanner.  11 light sculptures from the collection have been selected as limited editions, and all are on display at the Gallery. Your purchase helps support the Lumonics Legacy Project.