The Boathouse
Contact: Rory Clow
Creative Director
email: rory@westerncenters.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Family Bowl and The Boathouse Present

LUMONICS: A Pop-Up Art Exhibit at The Boathouse

Western Centers, the Colorado-based real estate investment and management company behind Snow Bowl, Family Bowl, The Boathouse, The Boat Yard, and Tavern at The Glen, is proud to facilitate and welcome the first Steamboat-based gallery showing of Lumonics light sculptures.

Presented by The Boathouse and Family Bowl, the pop-up art exhibit of Lumonics will be hosted at The Boathouse, Western Centers’ luxury event space on 6th and Yampa Street, with the Opening Reception during the December First Friday Art Walk on Friday, December 6th. Doors at 609 Yampa Street will open from 5pm-8pm with light refreshments for guests as they stroll through the dimmed gallery to view selected Lumonics glowing sculptures from a collection of over 200 works.

Following the Opening Reception, the pop-up gallery will remain open at The Boathouse through January 5th with gallery hours on Fridays from 1pm-8pm, Saturdays from 10am-8pm, and Sundays from 10am-1pm, or by appointment.

Lumonics is among the first and longest-running light art projects in the US, originating in Miami, Florida in the 1960s.  Lumonics began at the same time as the Light and Space Art Movement gained momentum in Southern California, which was characterized by a focus on highlighting light, volume, and scale using materials like glass, neon, and fluorescent lights that interacted with the surroundings. Similarly, Lumonics founders Dorothy and Mel Tanner achieved recognition for their work using experimental art materials traditionally used in industry, with light as an art source.

Mel Tanner died in 1993 in South Florida and Dorothy Tanner died in 2020, two years after receiving the Denver Mayor’s Award for Innovation in the Arts when she was 95. Based in Denver since 2008, long-time studio members Marc Billard and Barry Raphael continue Lumonics, archiving and exhibiting the highly acclaimed collection created by the Tanners and presenting Lumonics immersive experiences. Together, they are evolving the multi-sensory performance art for which Lumonics is also known.

One-of-a-kind and limited-edition sculptures shown at The Boathouse will be available for purchase, with proceeds going towards the Lumonics Legacy Project to help fulfill the goal of housing the Tanners’ art in a permanent art center with a performance space and light art school. A percentage of sales will be donated to Family Bowl, a local non-profit known for providing free meals during the pandemic, raising funds for the Maui Wildfires, providing free summer concerts at Snow Bowl, and acting as a fundraising catalyst for other non-profits that focus on community cohesion. 

Billard and Raphael will personally host gallery hours at The Boathouse, offering guests first-hand stories about the Tanners’ work, details about the labor and love behind the sculptures, and the history and future of the project.

The Lumonics collection is celebrated as “One of The Most Impactful Shows EVER!!!” by Tariana Navas-Nieves, Director of Cultural Affairs at the City and County of Denver, and as “One of the Crown Jewels of Denver” by Justin Stucey of Walt Disney Imagineering. Many of their sculptures are housed in private and public art collections, including the Museum of Outdoor Arts, Meow Wolf, and Fiddler’s Green.

Join Western Centers, Family Bowl, The Boathouse, and Lumonics’ Marc Billard and Barry Raphael for the unique opportunity to experience this distinctive art form, available locally at 609 Yampa Street starting December 6th.

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