Take a Virtual 360 Tour of the Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery and the Lumonics performance space where we present Lumonics Immersed on Saturday evenings. We also present guided tours for companies, organizations, and private groups, and field trips for students of all ages.
All of the light art shown in the virtual tours is currently on display. Lumonics is among the first and longest-running light art projects in the U.S.
The tour begins below the two still images of the Gallery and Performance Space.
360 Gallery photo by Marc Billard/Lumonics
360 Performance Space photo by Marc Billard/Lumonics
This video begins with the light sculptures in the gallery and then the performance space: The last 2 minutes are from a segment of one of the episodes of Lumonics Immersed. Music by Dorothy Tanner and Marc Billard
Virtual Tour of the Gallery and Performance Space at Lumonics: You can use your mouse to manipulate the images, or use your fingers on a mobile phone The image will begin to move a few seconds after it loads. .
Sophie Dawe is recovering from Hodgkin Lymphoma for the second time and has spent time in the installation in Cheltenham.
“For me colours are everything,” said Sophie, who works as an artist. “It just shifts your mood instantly because I’m so attracted to colour and shapes, especially with the effects, it’s amazing. I could walk around here all day.”
The feasibility study, which has been funded by Innovate UK, has been asking patients and their families how using Submergence has made them feel.
Image caption,Arts Coordinator Anoushka Duroe-Richards hopes the installation will help provide “nice experiences”
“We’re hoping that having art installations like this in healthcare will help us to provide nice experiences for people when they’re in an otherwise bad place,” said Anoushka Duroe-Richards, Arts Coordinator for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust.
“Ultimately we’re also hoping that has an impact on their well-being and and mental health and may also help to reduce NHS costs.”
James Groves and Lizzie Dreczewicz are two cancer patients who were invited to try the installation at the Oncology unit where they were treated in Cheltenham.
Image caption,James Groves said the lights help distract patients when they feel lonelyImage caption,Lizzie said the lights were “calming”
James said: ” When you’re in hospital you feel lonely a lot of the time so its good to come down and try something like this and distract your brain a little bit.
“I’ve been in a few different hospitals during the time I was having my chemotherapy and when its a place where its more colourful and there’s art it makes it more comfortable for you.”
“It’s calming. I like looking at the lights and the different colours,” Lizzie said. “Its very relaxing, I feel calmer.”
The installations at the hospital are smaller versions of the original Submergence exhibit which has toured the world for the last ten years.
It was created by Squidsoup, a Cheltenham arts collective that fuses art and technology.
The company has partnered with the NHS in Gloucestershire on the research project, which its hoped, if successful, will lead to a bigger roll out across the country.
Image caption,Matron Laureen Plommer said having time to “reset and refocus” was invaluable
“It’s humbling and quite awe inspiring,” said Dan Pearson, Squidsoup’s Creative Technologist. “I never thought that we’d be having a conversation about how our work could get in to these spaces to make people’s lives different.
“A lot of people look at art and say, as wonderful as it is, what’s the purpose of it? But we like to look at how our technology and art together can expand the spaces that it can exist in and the purpose that people think it exists for.”
As well as patients and families, the research team and encouraged staff to use the installations too.
For many, who often have to deal with difficult and stressful situations, just a few minutes have made a difference.
Laureen Plommer, a matron in the oncology unit in Cheltenham, said: “Even 30 seconds or a minute, you glaze over and experience the sounds, the separation from your day.
“It really makes all the difference. Having some time to ‘turn off’ your brain, to reset and refocus is invaluable.”
This is a letter of recommendation we received in 2018 from Jami Duffy, Executive Director of Youth on Record
Dorothy Tanner and Lumonics are true treasures in our Denver Community. The collective works of this group – a team which has been together for over four decades – is inspiring on many levels. As a cohort, this group of friends and comrades has brought to life the vision of Dorothy – to use light as a means of healing, and to produce art that has no other option but to bring joy to the viewer. Not many people can say they’ve dedicated their entire life to the single craft of creating, healing, and joy building. Dorothy and her team have done this – and as she enters the final chapter in a life well lived, recognition for her achievements is long overdue. -Jami Duffy, Denver Arts Advocate, Denver Cultural Affairs Commission Member, Artist, & Executive Director of Youth on Record.
The new school year is underway, and the Lumonics Field Trip Program is in place for students of all ages.
Up to 40 students per field trip is recommended $250 for 90 Minutes
What is a Field Trip to the Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery Like?
Lumonics is a multi-sensory environment of light sculptures, video art projection, and music. Your body is relaxed, and the right side of your brain (the creative, emotional side) is at full stimulation. It is intended to bring you into a state of comfort and expanded awareness.
The Elements of the Field Trip
Tour of the gallery, art studio and the Lumonics School of Light Art
brief history of Lumonics, among the first and longest-running light art projects in the United States
light and sound immersion
question and answer session, tailored to the type of class attending
The Light and Sound Immersion
Lumonics Immersed is an innovative approach to art and creativity, and can be a memorable and transformative experience.
We provide the setting so the students can exercise their imaginative powers and hopefully be inspired to go further in their endeavors.
The Elements: Mel and Dorothy Tanner’s Light Sculptures Original Special Effects, Music, and Projection Lighting and the Effects Orchestrated Live by Lumonics’ Marc Billard
While the field trip can benefit every curriculum, it has specific application to:
Art– the introduction of an art form involving several disciplines Science – an art form that utilizes technology including lasers, electronics, and LEDs Language Arts – a universal language of light and sound.
It is an opportunity for the students to describe what they experience, both orally and in writing. They are welcome to bring sketch books and journals, and take photos.
Tour of the gallery, art studio and the Lumonics School of Light Art