Jan 18

Thanks to Immersive Denver for this tribute to Dorothy Tanner

Starry Day (1983) by Mel Tanner
Spires (2006) by Dorothy Tanner

Jan. 18, 2021

Thank you to Immersive Denver for including this tribute to Dorothy Tanner.

This year was full of loss for so many, and among local immersive artists, that included renowned light art pioneer Dorothy Tanner. Dorothy’s collaborative work with her late husband, Mel Tanner, sought to embody the idea of gesamtkunstwerk, a “total art” installation that would foster a state of comfort, relaxation, and creativity. We are lucky in Colorado to be able to experience their legacy at the Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery.

In addition, one of their Mind Spas can be experienced for a limited time now through January 30th, 2021 at Understudy (at the light rail stop for Theatre District / Convention Center). The installation is free to visit at anytime, viewable from the sidewalk, though recommended after dark.

more info about the exhibit:
https://lumonics.net/lumonicsmindspa-lightintersection

Jan 16

2 Years Ago on Rocky Mountain PBS

Thanks to Kate Perdoni of Rocky Mountain PBS for making this video 2 years ago and writing about Dorothy and Mel Tanner and the past, present, and future of Lumonics. (as of 2020)

“I love events that require suspension of disbelief; tales that cut under the fabric of reality to glimpse the inner workings of our subterranean selves; stories that highlight energetic receptivity; the marriage of natural law and other disciplines. Descartes received the notion of science from an angel. John Dee filled hundreds of volumes of communications with beings that advised Queen Elizabeth. And Mel Tanner got Lumonics from “The Hit,” an out-of-body experience in a diner parking lot that helped define and orient his life’s work.

Here, Lumonics co-founder Dorothy Tanner (in a 2017 interview with the Museum of Outdoor Arts- MOA) and Archivist Barry Raphael (in a 2020 interview with me at a Lumonics exhibit in Thornton) tell the origin story of Lumonics: a literal flash of light. Immersive Lumonics exhibitions since the 1960s featured live paintings, projections, sound baths, meditation rooms, and Dorothy and Mel Tanner’s renowned light sculptures, seen at Denver’s Understudy Gallery through January 30, 2021.

The exhibit at Understudy honors over forty years of the team’s intricate light creations — and marks an evolution of the Lumonics legacy. Dorothy, who received the Denver Mayor’s Arts and Culture Award for innovation in the Arts in 2018, passed in July at the age of 97. Mel passed in 1993 at age 68.

More at https://lumonics.net

Jan 11

Darshan Dance Company at Lumonics on New Year’s Eve

Darshan Dance Company at Illuminated Souls NYE
Photographer: Brandon Calhoun

Darshan Dance Company in the Lumonics Gallery
Darshan Dance Company in the Lumonics Gallery
Darshan Dance Company in the Lumonics performance space
Darshan Dance Company in the Lumonics performance space

Katie Bhairhavi Marshall, Director/Dancer/ Choreographer
of the Darshan Dance Company

Jan 11

Paradigm by Mel Tanner on Display at Lumonics

Paradigm (1976) by Mel Tanner

Paradigm (1976) by Mel Tanner can be seen this Saturday at Lumonics Immersed. Thanks to Third Dune Productions for this photo.

The intent of this transformative multi-sensory experience that the late artists Dorothy and Mel Tanner originated in 1969, and that continues to evolve, is to bring you into a state of comfort and expanded awareness. To that end, we utilize all the arts we can lay our hands on: light sculptures, painting, lasers, music, and projection; and provide a setting that can enable fresh insights. Each performance is orchestrated live and never repeated.

“Lumonics will lift you into the stratosphere of mind expansion.”
– Denver Westword

Your support by attending our events will enable this art form to continue to evolve.

Lumonics Immersed